Jean  Grolier 


A    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY    BINDERY 


JAMES    K.MOFFITT 


PAULINE  FORE  MOFFITT 
LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
GENERAL  LIBRARY,  BERKELEY 


tf  * 

G          * 


G 


#          G         # 


G 


One  hundred  and  forty  copies  printed 
on  hand-made  paper,  and  ten  on  Japan. 


HELIODORI  ^ETHIOPIC^    HISTORIC,  BASLE,  1552. 
Size  of  original,  8  x  12^  inches. 
COLLECTION  OF  ROBERT  HOE. 


JEAN 

GROLIER 

DE  SERVIER 

VISCOUNT  D'AGUISY 

SOME  ACCOUNT  OF  HIS  LIFE 
AND  OF  HIS  FAMOUS 

LIBRARY 
BY  WILLIAM   LORING  ANDREWS 


NEW-YORK  MDCCCXCII 

THE  DEVINNE  PRESS 


"La  passion  des  livres  ne  saurait  6tre  considered  comme  un 
des  resultats  de  notre  civilisation  moderne :  en  France  comme 
en  Angleterre,  en  Italic  comme  en  Allemagne,  enfm  dans  les 
differents  pays  de  1'Europe,  il  est  trouve  presque  a  toutes  les 
epoques  des  hommes  eminents  qui  ont  consacre  leur  veilles  et 
une  parti  de  leur  fortune  a  se  former  une  bibliotheque.  Rois, 
princes,  seigneurs,  religieux  ou  abbes,  prelats  ou  simples  pre- 
tres,  savants,  magistrats,  financiers  mSme,  tous  ont  ri valise 
sous  ce  rapport  et  meritent  d'etre  cites." — Le  Roux  de  Lincy. 


PREFACE 

T~^OR  much  oj  the  material  in  the  following  pages 
J-  the  writer  heartily  acknowledges  his  indebted- 
ness to  that  admirable  and  thorough  treatise  by  M.  Le 
Roux  de  Lincy,  Secretary  of  the  Society  of  Biblio- 
philes-Franc,ais,  Recherches  sur  Jean  Grolier,  sur  sa 
Vie  et  sa  Bibliotheque,  Paris,  1866,  to  which  the 
reader  is  referred  for  further  investigation  of  the  sub- 
jecl  should  his  interest  or  curiosity  be  hereby  sufficiently 
aroused. 

Regardless,  however,  of  any  other  result,  the  author 
is  content  to  put  forth  this  little  pamphlet  simply  in 
token  of  his  admiration  for  the  many  estimable  "char- 
afteristicks"  of  the  worthy  prototype  of  a  class  with 
which,  if  not  identified,  he  hopes  to  be  considered 
within  bounds  in  claiming  to  be  in  strong  affiliation. 
If  the  picture  is  therefore  overdrawn,  the  reader  will 
kindly  bear  this  in  mind,  and  make  due  allowance  for 
the  facl  that  a  "fellow-feeling  makes  us  wondrous 
kind:' 


LIST  OF    PLATES. 

HELIODORI  JETHIOPICJE  HISTORIC  (Grolier  binding). 

Frontispiece. 

BESSARIONIS  CARDINALIS  NICENI  (Grolier  binding),  page  1 1 
PAGE  FROM  JUSTINIAN,  PETER  SCHOEFFER,  1477,  .  "  16 
LIVRE  DES  STATUTS  DE  L'ORDRE  SAINCT  MICHEL,  .  "  19 

CONTEMPORARY  ALDINE  MEDAL, "     24 

FACSIMILE  PAGE  FROM  THE  TERENCE  OF  1517,  .  .  "  27 
C.  CRISPI  SALLUSTII  (Grolier  binding),  ....  "29 
PAGE  OFANTHROPOLOGIA,  WITH  GROLIER'S  AUTOGRAPH,  "  33 

COAT  OF  ARMS  AND  EMBLEM, "'38 

QUINTO  CURTIO  (i  6th  Century  Roman  binding),  .  '*  41 
PAULI  Jovn  EPISCOPI  (Grolier  binding),  ...  "47 
IL  LIBRO  DEL  CORTEGIANO  (Grolier  binding),  .  "  51 

ARMS  OF  GROLIER  AFTER  HIS  MARRIAGE,  ...  "54 
BURIAL-PLACE  OF  GROLIER, "55 


The  plates  of  bindings,  of  the  Aldine  medal,  and  of  the  facsimile  page 
with  Grolier's  signature  are  by  Mr.  Edward  Bierstadt's  artotype  process  j 
the  remaining  illustrations  are  the  work  of  the  DeVinne  Press. 


BESSARIONIS    CARDINALIS    NICENI,  ALDUS,    1521. 

From  Techener  Sale.     Size  of  original,  8^  x  13  inches. 

COLLECTION  OF  ROBERT  HOE. 


JEAN   GROLIER 


HOMAS  HARTWELL  HORNE,  in  his 
Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Bib- 
liography, makes  this  remarkable 
statement :  "  The  most  eminent 
bookbinders  of  France  are  Grolier,  Deseuille, 
Padaloup,  De  Rome,  Bozerian  of  Paris,  and 
Noel  of  Besa^on";  and  he  adds  in  a  foot- 
note this  interesting  and  valuable  piece  of  infor- 
mation: "Many  books  of  Grolier's  binding  are 
to  be  found  in  Mr.  Cracherode's  collection  in 
the  British  Museum.  Though  many  centuries 
have  flown  away  since  they  were  executed  they 
still  exhibit  to  advantage  his  admirable  style." 
Certainly  many  of  the  interesting  facts  brought 
to  light  by  Le  Roux  de  Lincy  concerning  the 
life  and  library  of  this  noted  bibliophile  were 
not  accessible  to  Home;  still  it  is  singular  that 
he  was  apparently  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  a 


Jean  Grolier 

number  of  earlier  authorities  upon  the  subject, 
notices  and  descriptions  of  Grolier  and  his  books 
having  appeared  long  before  Home  wrote  his 
treatise,  in  works  of  De  Thou,1  Croix  du  Maine,1 
Paul  Lacroix,3  and  others.  It  is  equally  difficult 
either  to  explain  or  to  excuse  the  commission 
of  so  glaring  an  error  on  the  part  of  a  professed 
student  of  bibliography. 

It  is  a  fact  not  difficult  to  demonstrate  that, 
irrespective  of  any  other  title  to  remembrance, 
the  one  who  follows  to  a  conspicuous  extent 
the  pursuit  of  book-collecting  is  assured  of  a  de- 
gree of  enduring  renown  beyond  that  which  falls 
to  the  lot  of  most  human  beings  outside  the 
confined  circle  of  the  acknowledged  great  ones 
of  earth.  In  the  niche  of  imperishable  fame 
posterity  places  but  few  of  the  painters,  poets, 
statesmen,  or  scholars  of  any  age,  while  the  mul- 
titude are  allowed  to  sink  into  the  outer  dark- 
ness of  complete  forgetfulness ;  but  it  is  a  safe 
assertion  that  the  name  of  no  book-collector  once 
inscribed  upon  the  annals  of  bibliography  has 
ever  passed  away  entirely  from  the  minds  of 
men.  This  naturally  results  from  the  character 
of  the  bibliophile's  pursuit.  The  books  he  loved 
and  cherished  become  the  lares  and  penates  of 


Jean  Grolier 

the  next  fortunate  possessor,  and  the  precious 
volumes,  carefully  guarded  and  passed  on  by 
one  to  another,  are  of  necessity  indissolubly  con- 
nected with  the  names  of  the  first  and  each 
succeeding  owner.  The  superior  vitality  of  a 
bibliophilistic  reputation  is  shown  in  marked 
contrast  in  the  subject  of  our  sketch.  Here  was 
a  man  who  through  the  greater  part  of  his  life 
filled,  and  worthily,  positions  of  the  highest  trust 
and  importance  in  the  State — Treasurer  of  the 
French  Army  in  Italy,  Ambassador  to  Rome,  and 
then  Treasurer  of  France ;  and  yet  his  name  would 
have  been  forgotten  long  ago  but  for  the  beautiful 
books  which  through  all  these  years  have  borne 
their  silent  witness  to  his  knowledge,  taste,  and 
culture.  In  the  introduction  to  his  book,  Le 
Roux  de  Lincy  admits  that  his  interest  was  aroused 
and  his  research  incited  by  the  keen  appreciation 
shown  by  book-lovers  for  the  bindings  of  Grolier 
and  their  rapid  enhancement  in  value. 

Certain  it  is  that,  within  this  prescribed  circle 
at  least,  the  one  who  gathers  together  a  collection 
of  choice  and  valuable  books  may  unwittingly 
and  unintentionally  build  for  himself  a  monu- 
ment more  enduring  than  brass  or  marble.  True, 
outside  of  this  circle  he  may  expect,  in  the  course 


Jean  Grolier 

of  time,  to  encounter  the  ill-fortune  of  being 
woefully  misrepresented,  and,  as  we  have  seen, 
even  within  the  confines  of  the  book-man's  pre- 
serves this  has  been  the  fate  of  Jean  Grolier. 
There  was  good  reason  indeed  to  fear  an  indefi- 
nite increase  of  the  number  of  misguided  ad- 
mirers of  his  skill  as  a  bookbinder,  and  a  well- 
grounded  dread  of  our  friend  Home's  error 
becoming  a  popular  fallacy;  but  happily  Le 
Roux  de  Lincy  has  come  gallantly  to  the  rescue 
of  his  distinguished  countryman,  and  averted 
this  threatened  danger. 

An  endeavor  to  trace  the  rise  of  a  taste  for  lit- 
erature and  the  commencement  of  a  passion  for 
the  collection  of  books  amongst  the  French  peo- 
ple carries  us  back  to  the  eighth  century  and  the 
reign  of  Charlemagne.  That  great  monarch  was 
himself  a  munificent  patron  and  ardent  friend  of 
learning.  Aided  by  Alcuin,  a  native  of  York 
and  disciple  of  the  "  venerable  Bede,"4  he  es- 
tablished in  his  family  an  institution  called  a 
Schola  Palatina,  which  accompanied  the  Court 
wherever  it  journeyed  and  was  attended  by  the 
royal  family  and  the  high  officers  of  State. 
Other  similar  schools  were  established  from  time 
to  time  in  various  parts  of  the  dominion,  and 


Jean  Grolier 

particular  attention  was  given,  under  the  direction 
of  Alcuin,5  to  the  restoration  and  correction  of 
the  ancient  Greek  and  Latin  manuscripts  which 
had  become  mutilated  by  the  ravages  of  time 
and  corrupted  by  ignorant  translators.  These 
were  newly  transcribed  at  the  different  schools 
and  monasteries,  and  copying  manuscript  became 
one  of  the  fashionable  occupations  of  the  day, 
in  which  "even  the  royal  princesses  took  an 
active  part  and  lively  interest." 

It  is  not,  however,  until  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury that  the  history  of  bibliophilism  in  France 
becomes  at  all  voluminous.  Since  that  date  it 
embraces,  with  few  exceptions,  all  the  grand  and 
conspicuous  personages  of  the  kingdom  —  its 
sovereigns,  princes,  state  officials,  and  men  of 
wealth.  Large  collections  of  books  were  also 
gathered  together  in  the  abbeys  and  monas- 
teries, where  the  friars  (the  conservators  of 
medieval  literature)  continued,  without  cessa- 
tion, from  age  to  age  their  quiet,  monotonous 
toil  of  copying  works  sacred  and  profane,  until 
suddenly  they  found  themselves  confronted  with 
the  startling  results  of  Gutenberg's  wonderful 
discovery,  and  their  careful  and  laborious  pro- 
cess of  book-making  was  superseded. 


•• 


Jean  Grolier 

We  can  fancy  with  what  feelings  of  surprise 
and,  doubtless,  of  sorrow  and  resentment  these 
cloistered  monks  slowly  and  unwillingly  read 
the  handwriting  on  the  wall.  To  the  artistic 
souls  among  them  must  have  come  a  premoni- 
tion of  the  inevitable  result  of  this  new  me- 
chanical invention.  It  signified  the  gradual 
extinction  of  their  beautiful  art.  This  was  not 
the  immediate  effect,  but  the  final  abandon- 
ment of  their  occupation  was  none  the  less  sure 
to  follow  the  introduction  of  the  printing-press. 

The  printers  kindly  left  them  for  a  time 
blank  capitals  and  wide,  clean  margins  upon 
which  they  still  could  lavish  their  taste  and 
skill,  but  it  was  not  long  before  even  this  re- 
stricted opportunity  passed  away.  In  the  haste 
occasioned  by  the  multiplied  demands  which 
the  invention  itself  created,  time  could  not  be 
spared  for  the  beautifying  but  slow  and  tedious 
processes  of  the  illuminator.  As  the  glow  of 
the  sunset  slowly  disappears  from  one  hillside 
after  another  until  the  entire  landscape  is  lost 
in  a  monotone  of  shadow,  so,  through  the  two 
or  three  decades  following  the  invention  of  the 
art  of  printing,  the  splendor  of  the  burnished, 
historiated  capitals  and  the  richly  tinted,  grace- 


16 


Jupioci  onarauffctur  fifcus  iOrotrci'>ui«  ait- vd  mm  tc 
mrc  ptilico  ara  cnrnfa  n«c  ana  bo  fifco  qrcda  ct  ^  Crr 
u.'daqattipm  tflmapublioialioK-fpcu^rup  ur  fF. 
Srujlh.aiu^i-^publicu-ltrfiraiGS'.'ipamipul'S'.vl 
m»?nrjmea-n6  nice  pfnnoiin  nnp.ir?:iH  ut-C-tB  qdn- 
pTrp-benc  aimone-m  pfi-qmcqd  tn  fp  jlitano  bab:  S 

S^rkrofcl^bfh 

ut-ff.e-lnrcur<rn. 

a*l«ffi-«fc-c»n.  (Jvidiao  tJ 

pncrps.  q  fi(ali9  f; -mUnil!  p: : 

1X^1"*^.  ";' •)l'iT-'lf'  r.-rrnK  pri< 


Irrqindaiffirt  K 
«n!JabiUotrp 


.    ^fcusipa: 

tcr  \vTrcr  obiigarcturp' 
affc  fiicirjjbaoid  ip  a'tra 


cocfitadir 


hutwi  I  .pbtbitu- 

bicn-cgruUsad 
ccs  (equcos  ct  fie 
pn  qdctircnrab 

x  bo-vad-ip  R  joiu*  ct  efie  .9.trrcruir:et  Jr  m 
;-q(unrfnalcG  ad  fcqucntte  jca.r- 
"•  pnur^.n.ifi  pofrcarcuoarcturp  rpotbc 
^  aruquoa.ro:  rrtodoeffifijctaalicnano.ut- 

V^          «|^bli(?ariair-piI)mlinTer?tncrjv-iq 
fi^F'^bonataanr-nraur.ur.iF.c.I  auFertur  C-nfcu''. 

3c  cf-pcnul  ac 

Bttfaf:araJ,e6ca!>.!oadcr™mobI.saJ 
loeffi-ur-rFtxrornbc  cp-q-fi-pc-  (f-fircs- 

ciT!-pofB--rndcipc.pi7.^tfia4ec:t3rn-ff  acpic^-ctqu* 

n?-{j  Uc-Cqtirj.ubirrcdttjrccbct^barcrcnimbos 

xjirOTsfiuiTc  5o  fpjIcK.pnrcovel.Fbatrcusco 

vcl  vcris  S  UTa'i.  r  •-•  ratrbanJr'rnn  fi.^ffi'pr^q  ron'a; 

TI prurmtura-.irjl^ufqj  Bii cotntir  cuftfco  ut-ff.tc 

rjj-iar.I.,d  qa'nf -n  a  9-arpba-fiue  poiTidcnf-etfrnl? 

b^.T^a.taruTJffion-paulianarorir'n^naranu'.ct 
roprcadcronc  ipadbucmlfir»T>arb«foa!urcttue  fitf 
ncsrarausipjrerni  q:bfctanilu|ucr.inuuur.ff.qni 
hau.cr:.l.qm  aur-^-fif:  mo- vd  Dictcrao  <r  agitur  aeti- 
crj  »rT3bcre.lcm  jlicnina  tcquabca  (f-qmreiu- 
ett  J  i-Ci-mn^i-I  n.<r-  n-quaprajilicctnoannqua  <jr 


-citOTe-tocqurrtreandoaro 
-T  aRtpoR.ftn.xici  rsfcmdiquo  admctr  agCtie  fic-C- 
a  -?r,s  qa-urmdiff  I-poUa-  Wno  Kqa  Urimefaetu  ccr 
'  ' 


ft 


*      ^ 


|.jn  tcrona-ilntrnup-l  rcfe?  tr  fF-ad-t  ox-CcfaM-ar 
eo-ct-c -tcvec  a co-Luet  * fao-.pfcp-I.fi  qui<vpol>-  * 
i  <  vCrtdirmu-prinu  ai  njc  caa  no brer  <yte  fbluna  •  ur 
-  pfrar.9putaco -i-tmbi  v«l  redde  ronfe  «^fF  tv  co-etBe. 


oas tsftmaWturnt.>arrurcepro  l-auos-  ercotroftati 
'  d>  m ^cre  frcqucrcr mpdu  trbito^:  a  rdiquovno  vera 


Bcnumca-aftu-ct 
cmu.ln-li.rti.  l-o.- 


fr-iudo  < 
cnorcfandinir.  Av 

Ml 

It  mcptcftrci  iudir.1 
tr  copuraco  a  rabubrna 
r'arhi  mli  fcnrcna^curnto 


cuiatA-e-i-apfitr^p 

ap»p«Ni.U.vcl 

atc.pcuniMtc-fce; 

fcvntr  wtcrrtfcuct 
pua_nitvbjc9pu- 

r.iainccu  Jxnuorif 
aispcr.ir-at-C-fi 
adurusfifai-l-n-ct 
ftltbcc  vcmfiftut 

ap-l-i-H'i-fcdmcfi 

vakarfcii.ficutC 

Jrerro-dl-l.fma-niricTrojfueritexpiruButod-l-qtie 
fnie  fine  ap-l  -i  •<?•!  vd aic  <r  cn.i  fi  no  friit cnatu  V>  a  ra- 
bularne  rn  no  v.il:  q:  coi:no  etntoffidriini  B-  Its  fi  male 
eFci?puraco  ccabcoq  ptoputarcrctiactaairnfq-.ad 
-xct-an-fip  crrj:c-fi  fi  p  $am  tucad-tr-urno-rV'-tcad- 

eu  no  j!T;nilir  frill ;  a  iL'c  q  potuit  aclcg-arcianFictc  cj-  vj 
IcatR  odicoutno-rFEcuiO-l-Ij-ltradtllaqoncfirr'  8ru 


^_       _  _     7  item. 

tioqf  rcecft  aptalFrnudc 
cprona  td  gn  q  obli^j; 
ta  fut  a  fifeo  xrincrnir.  adi 

qiiaaracr  niR-rco  rdVitut 
capduiuixbtr.  «.^0pz. 


micq-  po(T;tiUc  bfe  mtu  ar-acc-M-  Ire.p  S-fF-a:  re  inc". 
fuoti  5-ff.ararbt-l-ficun-qp'vctu  putp  q-noponitqi  i 

cunfozc-ltino-qr  putdicccFancdunoptpnotanucxi 
pedin-ric-s-tcaila-l  a.pcvdcre-ctno  q-baclcgcm-.-,  cue 
V^_  b;  fifeus^  ^bcbawr  fifco  anua  pfhno.p  qua  b:  ta 
^  Tmion-tt^.citarpotbcciutC.ri.ip.pub.pcn.l.i. 
»d  .iliqa  rmgul-ire  &,-btnJ  ubi  cna  i  taara  rporbcci-ut 
•ff-c-Uauftrtur-C-rireua-ft'pisrius  fi  Fifais vcd.it a.bent 
mulr.i  rnriicmre-r-q-  fi  t  S:bitu  ct  q-  fir  cdTa  rii  m  Jolucdo 
etq-boiicfida  litc^t.-.-q-bicnoftnraaluIblfnitatc* 
uti-Scft-mrtru  ct.nf  baf-fir-l-n-ct-r.  fi.«>-pub-pcn.|-n. 
ofiadufusfirai  |.fi..!rarciiocjttirrcGtirUctnci9-l- 


terdan-  vc-fi  «{s 


cdcrv-rvtli  0:1  p  cio  vcdcr  5*1 


-  v 

anttirur  Oca-Ufi  quof  pr  tii  ct.p  sr>  bfida  ficn  alua  ab 
cmptwc-  ^  afe  ftfiv  ct  ?ic  vcmcrit  p.pcuf  .fifa  vc  la  fi 


no  oicut  ni3.C-Ii.4p-pub-pc-l-t-  tn  ahopk  fie  hi  alio  m 
Oito:c  ur-C-tcuJr-so-irnpc-l'"'^'^'-  qaa-bucatfcdcui 
l^lnFcrcn.acbito.-nircrct  i  foluct'  via:cmpt«iut.ff. 


cpro.-i  ctfic  fifco  ut.o  *  pfcp-««  an  -t-i  -m  ft  -ct  -T  arpti- 
curia!  u  Cms  trcrcr.'  no  alic-l-i-in  fi-So-Ci  pafi  c  vfii  iru- 
Bltta*  &bito:ta  *  ftfco  arbcbaturtOc  c:npto:i  mfcrair 


ILLUMINATED  PAGE  FROM  JUSTINIANI  CONSTITUTIONES, 
PETER  SCHOEFFER,  MAYENCE,  1477. 

From  Syston  Park  Sale.     Size  of  original,  11x15^  inches. 
COLLECTION  OF  W.  L.  ANDREWS. 


Jean  Grolier 

fully  designed  borders  gradually  fades  and  dies 
away  until  all  that  remains  is  a  prosaic,  unre- 
lieved surface  of  white  and  black. 

Missal  of  the  Gothic  Age, 
Missal  with  the  blazoned  page, 
Whence,  O  missal,  hither  come, 
From  what  dim  scriptorium  ? 

Not  as  ours  the  books  of  old  — 
Things  that  steam  can  stamp  and  fold; 
Not  as  ours  the  books  of  yore  — 
Rows  of  type  and  nothing  more.* 

Before  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
hands  of  the  scribe  and  miniaturist  had  lost 
much  of  their  cunning,  and  the  practice  of  their 
art  became  speedily,  through  disuse  and  neg- 
lect, naught  but  a  reminiscence. 

It  was  a  goodly  company  who  thus  found 
themselves  thrown  out  of  employment.  The 
school  of  scribes,  miniaturists,  and  illuminators 
at  Paris,  dating  from  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  perhaps  earlier,  which  enjoyed  a  mer- 
ited reputation  throughout  France,  is  said  at  the 
close  of  the  fourteenth  century  to  have  exceeded 
60,000  in  number. 

*  Austin  Dobson. 
3  17 


Jean  Grolier 

Among  the  most  celebrated  book-collectors 
or  owners  of  fine  books  anterior  to  the  time 
of  Grolier,  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  was 
fitienne  Chevalier,  born  in  1410  and  dying 
in  1474.  He,  like  Grolier,  held  the  office  of 
Treasurer,  and  was  a  devoted  servant  of  his 
master,  Charles  VII,  a  close  and  trusted  friend 
of  the  beautiful  Agnes  Sorel,  and  (which  inter- 
ests us  most)  the  patron  of  Jean  Foucquet,6  the 
most  skilful  miniaturist  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

The  number  of  women  in  all  the  higher 
classes  of  society,  noted  as  lovers  and  posses- 
sors of  beautiful  books,  is  remarkable.  Queen 
Blanche  of  Castile,  mother  of  St.  Louis;  Anne  de 
Bretagne,  whose  magnificent  Book  of  Hours, 
containing  fifty-one  large  paintings  in  the  high- 
est style  of  French  art  of  the  earlier  part  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  now  forms  one  of  the 
chief  ornaments  of  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale ; 
Catherine  de  M^dicis;  Mary  Queen  of  Scots; 
Anne  de  Beaujeu,  daughter  of  Louis  XI ;  Mar- 
garet d'Angouleme,  Duchesse  d'Alenpon,  Reine 
de  Navarre,  author  of  the  Heptameron  and  the 
Marguerites  de  la  Marguerite  de  Princesses, 
called  by  the  poets  of  her  day  the  "  fine  pearl 
of  the  Valois";  and  that  other  Margaret,  also 


LIVRE    DES   STATUTS    DE  SAINCT  MICHEL,  PARIS,  1467. 

Printed  on  vellum.     Binding  of  Henry  II  and  Diane  de  Poictiers. 

From  Syston  Park  Sale.     Size  of  original,  6%  x  8  J^  inches. 

COLLECTION  OF  W.  L.  ANDREWS. 


Jean  Grolier 

Queen  of  Navarre,  first  wife  of  Henry  IV, 
whose  lovely  bindings  are  strewn  with  the 
flower  which  bears  her  name.  Nor  is  the  list 
complete  without  the  addition  of  the  names  of 
not  a  few  of  that  bevy  of  fair  dames  and  demoi- 
selles who,  although  not  queens  by  birth,  exer- 
cised a  regal  power  by  force  of  their  wit  and 
beauty  —  above  all,  the  famous  Diane  de  Poic- 
tiers,  widow  of  the  great  Seneschal  of  Nor- 
mandy, and  mistress  of  Henry  II. 

("  ILa  Dame")  Dom  \t  nom  gracteujp 
J£'e0t  fa  belong  D'esttrire, 
311  tst  script  Dans  te  cieup 
(Ec  De  mt£C£  $e  peult  lire** 


Thus  it  is  seen  that  Grolier,  as  a  lover  and 
collector  of  books,  is  by  no  means  a  unique 
figure  in  the  history  of  sixteenth-century  France; 
he  was  but  following  in  the  footsteps  of  the 
brilliant  line  of  bibliophiles  that  had  preceded 
or  were  contemporaneous  with  him.  But  this 
must  be  conceded,  that  he  was  one  of  the  fore- 
most in  his  appreciation  of  the  importance  to 
learning  of  the  study  of  the  writings  of  ancient 
classical  authors,  and  that  he  contributed  more 

*  Clement  Marot. 


Jean  Grolier 

to  their  restoration  by  his  liberal  patronage  of 
the  scholars,  authors,  and  printers  of  the  day  than 
any  other  of  his  contemporaries.  In  one  respect 
— his  sumptuous  fashion  of  clothing  his  books 
in  rich  and  solid  bindings  of  the  highest  artistic 
quality  —  he  stands  unrivaled.  He  has  left  us, 
writes  one  of  the  foremost  of  modern  French 
binders,*  a  collection  so  rich  that  we  may  claim 
for  him  the  r61e  of  a  creator  in  a  specialty  which, 
until  his  time,  had  not  risen  above  the  rank  of 
an  ordinary  handicraft,  but  which  he  elevated  to 
the  height  of  a  genuine  and  beautiful  art.  These 
masterpieces  have  served  as  models  to  the  book- 
binders of  all  ages  since  they  were  executed,  and 
are  examples  of  the  art  of  ornamental  design  as 
applied  to  the  covers  of  books  which  have  never 
been  equaled. 

This  scholar,  statesman,  financier,  antiquarian, 
and  bibliophile  lived  under  the  rule  of  seven 
sovereigns  of  France:  Louis  XI,  Charles  VIII, 
Louis  XII,  Francis  I,  Henry  II,  Francis  II,  and 
Charles  IX,  being  born  at  Lyons  in  the  year  of 

*"En  examinant  avec  soin  les  details  de  cette  ornamentation  (Grolier- 
esque)  on  y  reconnaitra  1'influence  que  Tempire  d'Orient  et  les  Arabes  ont 
laisse'e  a  Venise  a  cette  e"poque,  et  nous  pouvons  conside>er  cette  ville  comme 
le  berceau,  non  seulement  de  la  Reliure  en  general,  mais  specialement  de 
notre  Reliure  fran^aise."  Lion  Gruel,  Relieur. 


Jean  Grolier 

grace  1479,  anc^  dying  full  of  years  and  honors 
at  Paris,  October  22,  1565.  His  family  came 
originally  from  Verona,  establishing  themselves 
in  France  about  the  commencement  of  the  thir- 
teenth century.  In  1510,  at  the  age  of  thirty-one, 
he  succeeded  his  father  fitienne  in  the  office  of 
Tr£sorier-G£ne'ral  of  the  Duchy  of  Milan.  This 
province,  conquered  by  Louis  XII,  had  revolted 
during  the  latter  part  of  that  monarch's  reign, 
but  had  been  reunited  to  France  by  Francis  I 
immediately  upon  his  accession  to  the  throne. 
In  addition  to  this  office  Grolier  held  that  of 
Elu,  or  Chief  Magistrate,  of  the  city  of  his  birth. 
In  1524  he  was  sent  by  Francis  I  as  ambassador 
to  Pope  Clement  VII.  He  could  not,  however, 
have  remained  at  the  Court  of  Rome  or  as  Trea- 
surer at  Milan  later  than  1530,  as  about  that  date 
the  French  troops  left  Italy  and  amicable  rela- 
tions between  the  Holy  Chair  and  France  ceased 
In  1537  Grolier  had  returned  to  Paris,  and 
in  1545  was  made  Tresorier-G6n£ral  for  the 
country  beyond  the  Seine  and  Yonne  and  in  the 
He  de  France,  which  included  the  city  of  Paris 
and  was  the  most  important  of  all  the  treasurer- 
ships  as  well  as  the  most  arduous  in  its  admin- 
istration. This  position  he  held  until  his  death. 


Jean  Grolier 

There  were  at  this  time  in  the  entire  king- 
dom of  France  but  four  treasurers.  Their  duties 
were  as  multitudinous  as  varied,  and  comprised 
not  only  the  collection  of  all  the  taxes  levied  by 
the  King,  but  also  his  disbursements  as  head  of 
the  State,  including  the  payment  of  the  army  and 
of  the  domestics  of  the  royal  household  down 
to  those  of  the  lowest  rank.  The  care  of  the 
palaces,  chateaus,  and  domains  belonging  to  the 
crown  also  formed  part  of  the  duties  of  the  posi- 
tion of  Treasurer.  They  in  turn  were  subject  to 
the  direction  of  the  General  Master  of  France, 
who  controlled  their  actions  and  rendered  ac- 
count directly  to  the  King. 

Grolier,  while  still  a  comparatively  young  man, 
undoubtedly  possessed  a  knowledge  of  the  clas- 
sics and  of  several  other  branches  of  literature, 
acquired,  probably,  for  the  most  part,  during  his 
residence  in  Italy;  but  before  he  first  left  Paris 
we  find  him  in  correspondence  with  all  the 
Parisian  and  many  foreign  men  of  letters, 
amongst  them  Bude,  the  foremost  Greek  scholar 
of  the  period  (an  edition  of  his  work  on  Ancient 
Measures  and  Moneys  Grolier  subsequently 
caused  to  be  printed  with  great  care  at  the  Al- 
dine  Press) ;  also  with  Beatus  Rhenanus,7  a  noted 


Jean  Grolier 

German  scholar.  Two  letters  written  to  Rhe- 
nanus  and  Francis  d'Asola  jointly  still  remain 
in  existence.  Grolier  was  likewise  the  friend  of 
Erasmus,  who  describes  him  as  a  man  who  "in 
a  well-formed  body  possessed  all  the  good  quali- 
ties and  all  the  virtues  imaginable."  He  extols 
his  civility,  his  modesty,  his  integrity,  and  his 
munificence;  styles  him  the  ornament  of  France, 
the  protector  of  savants,  whose  name  is  placed  at 
the  head  of  all  the  works  printed  in  his  time  and 
above  all  the  learned  men  of  his  age,  not  only 
by  his  position  but  by  his  erudition ;  and  he  adds, 
"You  owe  nothing  to  books,  but  books  will 
give  you  in  the  future  an  eternal  glory.'*  This 
prophecy  has  had  one  fulfilment  he  could  not 
have  dreamed  of — 'the  foundation  of  a  club  of 
bookmen,  called  by  Grolier's  name,  more  than 
three  centuries  after  his  death,  in  a  country  undis- 
covered at  the  time  of  his  birth  and  known  to 
Erasmus  when  he  penned  this  rather  fulsome 
panegyric  only  as  a  far  distant  land  peopled  with 
untutored  savages. 

In  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  Treasurer  of 
the  French  army  in  Italy,  Grolier's  residence  was 
occasionally  in  Naples,  but  principally  in  Milan, 
whence  he  made  frequent  visits  to  Venice,  cul- 

23 


Jean  Grolier 

tivating  the  acquaintance  of  the  scholars  and 
studying  the  literature  of  these  different  cities. 
Probably  as  early  as  1512  he  had  become  a 
collector  of  books  and  frequented  the  libraries 
of  Italy  as  well  as  the  offices  of  its  celebrated 
printers,  notably  that  of  the  elder  Aldus  and 
his  successors,  of  whom  he  became,  very  early 
in  their  history,  an  ardent  admirer  and  generous 
friend  and  patron. 

Aldo  Pio  Manutio,  the  "scholar  printer,"  the 
man  who  "toiled  and  spent  his  life  to  fill  the 
world  with  beautiful  books  and  hold  open  to 
all  men  the  gates  of  learning,  all  for  love  and 
nothing  for  reward,"  died  in  1515,  leaving  four 
children,  all  too  young  to  direct  the  affairs  of 
the  printing-house  which  he  had  been  laboring 
diligently  for  over  twenty  years  to  establish. 
Fortunately  the  management  fell  into  the  able 
hands  of  his  father-in-law,  Andre  Torresano 
d'Asola,  and  his  two  sons.  It  is  at  this  date 
that  the  closest  and  most  intimate  connection 
of  Grolier  with  the  house  of  Aldus  existed. 
He  had  held  the  elder  Aldus  in  the  very  high- 
est esteem  and  affection,  and  in  a  letter  to 
Fran£ois  d'Asola  in  1519,  advising  him  of  the 
sending  of  the  Book  of  Bude,8  which  he  wished 


CONTEMPORARY   ALDINE   MEDAL. 

From  a  facsimile  metallic  reproduction  in  the  Grolier  Club  Collection  of 

Typographical  Medals,  presented  by  S.  P.  Avery.     Exact  size  of  original. 

For  description  see  page  66. 


Jean  Grolier 

to  have  printed  at  his  own  expense  at  their 
press,  he  writes:  "This  man's  death  has  caused 
me  a  very  bitter  sorrow,  as  much  because  learn- 
ing has  lost  in  him  a  very  able  restorer  as  that 
I  have  been  deprived  of  a  most  affectionate 
friend." 

In  the  last  paragraph  of  this  letter,  written  in 
Latin  with  much  elegance  of  style  and  felicity 
of  dictiori,  Grolier  enters  into  minute  details  con- 
cerning the  manner  in  which  he  wished  this  Book 
of  Budaeus  d'Asse  to  be  executed.  "  Now,  then, 
dear  Fra^ois,  you  will  give  your  utmost  care  so 
that  a  most  correct  work  will  pass  from  your 
press  to  the  hands  of  the  learned.  I  entreat  you 
many  times  and  supplicate  you  to  add  beauty 
to  elegance,  that  the  paper  should  be  without 
blemish,  the  characters  of  a  perfect  equality,  and, 
what  is  not  to  be  despised,  that  the  margins 
should  be  large.  In  conclusion,  I  wish  that  the 
book  should  be  executed  with  the  same  charac- 
ters as  were  used  formerly  to  print  the  'Poli- 
tiani,'  and  in  the  same  style ;  and  if  so  much 
elegance  involves  a  great  expense,  I  will  not  fail 
to  account  to  you  for  it.  I  wish  further  that 
nothing  should  be  changed  or  added  to  the 
original."  The  Omnia  Opera  Angeli  Politiani,9 


Jean  Grolier 

1498,  which  is  here  designated  as  the  model 
for  the  Book  of  Bud£,  is  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful books  issued  from  the  press  of  Aldus 
Manutius,  and  is  now  one  of  the  rarest. 

The  Book  of  Bude  on  Ancient  Measures  and 
Moneys  appeared  in  1522.  A  copy  on  vel- 
lum, with  the  initials  illuminated  in  gold  and 
colors  (Grolier's  own  copy),  was  in  the  Mac- 
Carthy  Reagh  collection,  purchased  by  him  at 
the  Soubise  sale,  and  is  described  as  follows  in 
the  catalogue  of  his  (MacCarthy's)  library  sold 
in  Paris,  1815:  "No.  5106:  Guill  Budsei  Pa- 
risiensis  libri  v  de  asse  et  partibus  ejus.  Vene- 
tiis,  apud  Aldum  1522  in  4  m.  r.  IMPRIMfi 
SUR  VfiLIN.  SUPERBE  EXEMPLAIRE, 
avec  les  lettres  initiales  peintes  en  or  et  en 
coleurs,  et  le  seul  que  1'on  connoisse  sur  v£lin. 
C'est  celui  qui  fut  envoye  a  Grolier,  a  qui  ce 
livre  est  d^die'.  On  lit  a  la  fin  du  texte  ces  mots 
Merits:  Jo  Grolierii  Lugdunens  et  amicorum" 

This  volume,  rebound  by  Lewis  in  the  Grolier 
style  in  green  morocco,  is  now  one  of  the  trea- 
sures of  the  library  of  Lord  Spencer.  It  cost  the 
Earl,  at  the  MacCarthy  sale  in  1815,  1500  francs. 

Grolier's  passionate  admiration  for  the  books 
issued  from  the  Aldine  press,  and  his  warm  and 

26 


CHRISTIANUS. 

CALL  OR  VM  REG  FS  SE  GRETA 

RIO    ET    PRIMARIO    IN 

SVBRIAB   QV-AESrORI 

JFRAKCISCV5   ASV 

LANVS    5. 

V I C  V  N  QV  E "  VolattMS  itte  Se  Jig* 
tusfnit:qui  iudtdu  de  Utttms  comiciSjirt 
t)ts,quiarcnnfiruntur,i<imbis  fom<tnd<t 
for  tulit'.ut  whil  eum}<yii  contra  fin* 
nhre  dixerit:nc  ilk  wihi  emni 
I  fie  fYorfa  uideturjenjn  'Gtruiffi .  Cxalio  fdlmam  fa 
tuit.ficiliM  idfirteffc  quhn  dccuit.^n^m  enhn  de 
eOiCmuttuilld,  extent  fcripfojiudiatri  nihit  foflit:  non 
ftrtli  ktmcn  Ciceronis  iudiciim,<ini  nunc  rMwm  eum  ef 
/eUttnikttis  <tuthorerntnuncmaleloatfum  diat:ficien^ 
dim  cft-Sedob  ipfam  fowtn  bane  aufam,  quod  omniA 
eiuffcfipfo  tnterdderunt:  ne  temcreineum  quern  non 
legmtjronuntidffi  quicqtMm  uicic<imnr:cMn  fr^Jer-^ 
tim  &  Hor.dtius  ettdm  gruiiktte  eum  diatt  uinare: 
condonemtu  fetne  hoc  Ciceroni*  iudidum:  &  reftc  C<eci 
lio dddtom palvMm  cxi{hmemtK*Quid quod rl<uttum> 
r^/rrcf  fitper4re,ttc/exfodemtitn  loco  an/equi  Tcrew- 
toum  ajfritfatto  ne  id  p<ttfv  aflentiri  pc/fimt?eg)  Hero 
fantum  <tbefl  ut  m  bdcfim  Jen^nfta:ut  long)  internal-* 
lo  poft  TeYentiwnvlwtum  arlitrer  coUoandMn*  Nfj; 
tierouthoc  fenti<tm, ferments  filum  cleffntid  nwueor: 
Terentittm  fiallimc  'omncs  excrllere  nemo  eft  qui 
hoc  ftremillt  vl**tti<mcffe:uoloquodho 
t  firtejpititiutnfitj<etiti  afcribcre-durior  eft  C/rf// 

FACSIMILE    PAGE 
FROM    THE   TERENTIUS    OF    1517. 


Jean  Grolier 

sincere  friendship  for  the  printers,  found  practical 
expression  in  his  continual  readiness  to  render 
pecuniary  aid  in  the  many  embarrassments  in 
which  their  affairs  were  from  time  to  time  in- 
volved. Their  gratitude  for  this  assistance  is 
shown  by  the  number  of  dedications  addressed 
to  him,  and  is  expressed  in  most  glowing  terms 
in  their  correspondence.  "You  are  regarded," 
they  write,  "as  a  divinity  upon  earth  throughout 
Lombardy."  For  many  years  they  never  pub- 
lished a  book  without  printing  several  copies  for 
him  either  on  vellum  or  on  a  special  paper. 

Of  the  several  Aldine  editions  of  Latin  au- 
thors, a  number  were  particularly  dedicated  to 
Grolier,  some  by  the  learned  men  who  revised 
them,  others  by  the  Alduses  themselves.  The 
three  editions  of  the  works  of  Terence,  1517, 
1521,  and  1524,  are  all  inscribed  to  him.  A 
Greek  grammar  left  uncompleted  by  the  elder 
Aldus  was  finished  by  Marco  Musurus,  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  members  of  the  Aldi 
Neacademia,*  and  dedicated  to  Grolier  in  these 
words:  "After  having  polished  it  the  best  pos- 
sible, I  dedicate  it  to  you  and  ask  that  you  will 
have  the  goodness  to  give  it  a  place  in  your 

*  A  famous  literary  society  founded  by  Aldus. 


A,  ^(C\ 


Jean  Grolier 

elegant  library."  In  addition  to  these  classics, 
books  relating  to  music  were  also  dedicated  to 
him.  The  talented  musician,  equally  with  the 
artist,  poet,  and  philosopher,  enjoyed  his  open- 
handed  hospitality.  His  generosity,  as  well  as 
the  means  for  its  gratification,  must  have  been 
unbounded  if  the  story  told  by  Egnatio,*  one 
of  those  who  evidently  basked  frequently  in  its 
sunshine,  is  not  a  romance.  "  I  dined,"  he  says, 
"  along  with  Aldus,  his  son  Manutius,  and  other 
learned  men,  at  Grolier's  table;  after  dinner,  and 
just  as  the  dessert  had  been  placed  upon  the 
table,  our  host  presented  each  of  his  guests  with 
a  pair  of  gloves  filled  with  ducats." 

According  to  the  testimony  of  Bonaventure 
d'Argonne,10  the  library  of  Grolier  comprised  in 
the  neighborhood  of  3000  volumes.  Of  these 
349  are  identified  and  located  by  Le  Roux  de 
Lincy.  The  remainder  have  disappeared,  or 
bear  no  indication  of  their  former  ownership,  or 
proof  of  having  pertained  to  this  renowned  col- 
lection. The  high  prices  realized  for  these 
bindings  within  the  last  few  years  have  had  their 
natural  result,  and  have  led  to  the  manufacture 
of  fraudulent  imitations  either  by  entire  repro- 

*  G.  B.  Egnatio,  professor  of  rhetoric  at  Venice. 


C.  CRISPI   SALLUSTII,  ALDUS,  1509. 

From  Libri,  H.  Foss,  and  La  Roche  Lacarelle  Sales.     Size  of  original, 
4  x  6^  inches. 

COLLECTION  OF  ROBERT  HOE. 


Jean  Grolier 

ductions  or  by  placing  Grolier's  name  and  fa- 
miliar legend  upon  a  binding  of  the  period  —  a 
much  simpler  and  easier  mode  of  deception,  but 
even  more  difficult  of  detection  and  dangerous 
to  the  collector.  In  fact,  the  risk  is  now  so 
great  that  the  indisputable  pedigree  of  a  bind- 
ing claimed  to  be  his  is  absolutely  essential. 

The  books  known  to  exist,  which  once  be- 
longed to  Grolier,  embrace  the  works  of  Greek 
and  Roman  classic  authors  in  prose  and  poetry, 
of  modern  Latin  authors  and  commentators,  and 
of  Italian  authors;  writings  on  philosophy  and 
medicine;  books  of  history,  archaeology,  and  bi- 
ography, sacred  writings,  ancient  and  modern. 
Only  two  French  authors  are  represented.  Prob- 
ably the  original  collection  included  many  if 
not  all  of  the  French  chronicles,  histories,  and 
books  of  poetry  printed  in  the  gothic  type  of 
the  sixteenth  century  and  adorned  with  quaint 
and  fascinating  if  rude  examples  of  the  art  of 
wood-engraving,  then  in  its  infancy — the  in- 
cunabula sought  for  with  so  much  avidity  by 
the  modern  French  collector,  but  which  may 
have  been  looked  upon  by  Grolier  as  the  rather 
ephemeral  literature  of  the  day;  for  his  taste  in- 
clined, as  the  natural  result  of  his  studies,  long 


Jean  Grolier 

residence  in  Italy,  and  association  with  its  schol- 
ars, to  the  early  Greek  and  Latin  authors.  The 
testimony  of  a  contemporary  is  that  the  major 
part  of  his  collection  was  of  this  classical  char- 
acter. Still  it  is  strange  that  none  of  the  popu- 
lar chansons  of  the  time,  such  as  Le  Chevalier 
aux  Dames,  Les  Regretz  de  Picardie,  or  even 
a  copy  of  that  many  times  reprinted  favorite 
of  the  middle  age§,  Maistre  Guillaume  Lorris's 
Roman  de  la  Rose,  appear  in  the  list.  The 
books  of  this  description  it  may  have  embraced 
perhaps  formed  part  of  the  number  that  fell  to 
the  share  of  that  "scamp  of  a  Parisian  notary 
named  Noe,"  who  appears  to  have  been  quite 
incapable  of  appreciating  the  merits  of  the  bind- 
ings, which  he  ruthlessly  destroyed,  rebinding 
the  books  in  a  more  modern  style  better  suited 
to  his  taste. 

Of  the  Greek  and  Latin  classic  authors  Gro- 
lier not  only  possessed  all  the  more  important, 
but  of  many  a  number  of  copies :  nine  of  Ci- 
cero, four  of  Ovid,  ten  of  Pliny,  three  of  Sallust, 
three  of  Titus  Livius,  four  of  Valerius  Maximus, 
five  of  Juvenal  et  Perseus,  two  or  three  each 
of  Lucian,  Horace,  Catullus,  Statius,  Terence, 
Anacreon,  Aristotle,  and  Xenophon,  and  six  of 


Jean  Grolier 

Martial.  Two  of  the  latter  upon  vellum  in  the 
Paris  Royal  Library  are  mentioned  by  Dibdin 
as  "beautiful  books,  the  initial  letters  in  gold." 
(Most  of  Grolier's  books  were  thus  ornamented.) 
In  one  copy  are  the  arms  of  Grolier,  and  an 
illumination  on  the  first  page  of  the  text.  Dib- 
din also  found  in  the  same  library  a  Plautus  of 
1522,  an  Ausonius  of  1517,  a  Valerius  Maximus 
of  1534,  a  Priscianus  of  1527,  and  a  Sannazari 
Arcadia  of  1514,  all  on  large  paper,  formerly 
the  property  of  Grolier. 

Of  Greek  authors  translated  into  Latin  Gro- 
lier's library  contained  five  copies  of  Lucian 
(one  a  manuscript),  and  three  copies  of  the 
Polyphili  Hypnerotomachia  printed  in  1499, 
one  of  the  most  perfect  specimens  of  book- 
making  from  the  Aldine  press.  Its  beautiful 
typography  is  embellished  with  wood-engrav- 
ings which  are  the  acknowledged  masterpieces 
in  design  and  execution  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. The  Duke  of  Devonshire's  library  con- 
tains one  of  the  above-named  copies  printed  on 
vellum — "a  membranaceous  gem,"  as  Dibdin 
in  his  stilted,  antiquated  style  would  describe 
it,  of  the  very  first  water. 

Virgil  appears  to  have  been  Grolier's  favorite 
31 


Jean  Grolier 

author:  ten  copies  of  his  works  were  at  one 
time  in  his  possession,  including  a  very  beauti- 
ful manuscript  and  the  earliest  printed  edition, 
dated  1486.  Of  the  charming  Aldine  Virgil, 
printed  in  small  octavo  in  1527,  he  had  five 
copies,  three  of  which  he  afterward  presented  to 
his  friends. 

One  of  the  most  precious  volumes  from  his 
library  which  have  been  preserved  is  the  manu- 
script of  the  ^Eneid  now  in  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale  at  Paris.  Not  only  is  the  binding 
remarkably  elegant,  but  the  manuscript  itself  is 
of  beautiful  execution  upon  finest  vellum,  and 
is  ornamented  throughout  with  most  delicate 
paintings.  Executed  toward  the  end  of  the  fif- 
teenth century,  it  was  in  the  possession  of 
Prince  Jean  de  Gonzague,  who  was  despoiled 
of  his  estates  by  Francis  I.  The  presumption 
is  that  his  books  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
French  soldiery,  from  whom  this  priceless  trea- 
sure was  fortunately  rescued  and  secured  by 
Grolier.  It  is  in  an  Italian  binding,  and  bears 
his  name  and  device. 

Thirteen  manuscripts  in  all  are  among  the 
books  remaining  of  his  library,  and  eight  books 
with  his  annotations.  A  folio  Virgil  is  quite 


DELL'ANTHROPOLOCIA 

marin4ri  Iwnw  tempo  Idleftrdti  dd  nntrdrid  Forto- 
IM.  Nc  Id  ignoring*  di  ao  che  fctgtd,f  uo  A  ptuii 
nutter  pMirdtche  fe  doppo  mortCjfintimtntv  non  r«- 
fixxhe  mate  pno"  dcrtdere  d  chi  non  finfe?  Se  dncord 

ne&  de  ckrifhdni :  uerdmente  e  dd  creder  ehe  dtb- 
btdno  tvrnar  di  ado.  Et  s*egli  etterojdie  iddio  gufb 
gudice  \)M\d  ordindfo  urfdltrd  uita.,  &  Id  pend  tl 
fretnto  fewndo  i  mtriti  di  cidfbtnojdricorddzd  delld 
morlea  dec  efferunofhmolopiMpwngnte,  che  quelti 
ddl  Mupald  recitatt  di  fir  tali  operdtioni  di  qiid,  ckt 
di  Id  non  hMidmo  d  perder  quelld  infinite,  &•  «c- 
rdtp er  wtfht  Udnd  &  atduat  glorid'.quelld  arts.  «tt- 
titd'ftr  qutfht  ddotn^rd(jt:quei  fempiternt  fidceri,per 
ytefh  filldci  tt  che  non  durdno.  di  chefiui  uolejjlpiu 
rdgontrt ,  bifigrwid  entrdre  vnnuoHA  matfrid:& 
fir  ft  non  v#  potrti  utnire.  d  atpo  che  id  noffe  <{m  non 
ci  foprdgnn$r(fc.  Verdnuntc  per  uoi  diffiil  Poets,  e 
flntvhogg  difyutato  dffii;fcnzdpd[firt  m  pinlm* 
go  *dgorwnenfc:lo  <ptdle  an  waggore  dgo  in  ditto 
tempo  ft  pctn  fire .  Et  tvfi  detto  indi  con  quefitper^ 
'ptdfionepdMrono:^?  Foptnione  di  tndeftro  Girold- 
we  d  madonnt  Ipbigenid  pin  uerd;  d^glidltri  pd- 
reflepiu  <$h  ueritif  queUd  di  meffer  Ldndno  dp~ 
freffrrfi. 


1  o  .  Q  rollertf  L^ 


et 


LAST    PAGE    OF 
L'ANTHROPOLOGIA  DI  GALEAZZO  CAPELA,  ALDUS,  1533. 

With  autograph  of  Grolier. 
COLLECTION  OF  S.  P.  AVERY. 


Jean  Grolier 

covered  with  his  notes  written  at  different 
epochs,  proof  that  he  was  a  student  as  well  as 
a  bibliophile.  The  two  terms,  as  we  know,  are 
by  no  means  synonymous. 

Grolier's  bindings  naturally  group  themselves 
into  two  general  divisions:  those  which  were 
executed  specially  for  him,  and  books  bound 
for  others  which  he  considered  worthy  a  place  in 
his  collection.  Amongst  the  latter  are  bindings 
of  Francis  I,  Henry  II,  and  Diane  de  Poictiers. 
On  these  he  placed  his  name  and  motto.  The 
volumes  he  secured  in  ancient  Italian  bindings, 
many  decorated  with  paintings,  he  was  too  true 
a  bibliophile  either  to  disfigure  or  destroy.  The 
only  mark  of  ownership  they  bear  is  the  modest 
inscription  "Jo  Grolierii  Lugdunen"  on  the  fly- 
leaf or  last  page  —  a  standing  rebuke  to  the 
spirit  of  egotistical  vandalism  of  some  more 
modern  collectors.  Few,  however,  have  vio- 
lated this  canon  of  good  taste  to  the  extent  of 
the  Syston  Park  collector,  whose  coarse  design 
of  an  admiralty  anchor  defaces  so  many  of 
the  beautiful  bindings  which  unfortunately  fell 
into  his  possession.  We  are  at  a  loss  which  to 
criticize  more  unsparingly  —  Sir  John  Thorold 
or  his  binder,  of  unenviable  notoriety,  R.  Storrs 

5  33 


Jean  Grolier 

of  Grantham,  who  appears  to  have  bound  books, 
not  by  any  rules  of  taste  or  with  any  knowledge 
of  his  craft,  but  simply  by  main  force. 

In  the  library  of  the  author  of  this  sketch  is 
an  Aldine  Greek  Anthology,  one  of  four  known 
copies  on  vellum,  bound  by  Roger  Payne  in  red 
morocco,  delicately  blind-tooled  on  the  outside, 
and  lined  with  leather  covered  with  gold  tool- 
ing; and  on  it  is  impressed  the  Syston  Park 
anchor  in  gold  surrounded  by  a  coil  of  rope 
heavy  and  stout  enough  to  warp  an  ocean  steam- 
ship into  her  dock.  A  very  large  proportion  of 
the  Syston  Park  books  have  in  this  manner  re- 
ceived irreparable  injury.  Through  page  after 
page  of  the  sale  catalogue  runs  the  phrase, 
"Anchor  in  gold  on  sides,"  conjuring  up  in 
the  mind  of  the  absent  book-buyer  the  small, 
delicate,  well-proportioned  Aldine  anchor  we  all 
know  so  well.  The  accusation  generally  brought 
against  English  cataloguers  is  that  the  books  are 
over-described,  but  in  this  instance  the  fault  lies 
entirely  in  the  other  direction — they  are  under- 
done. Attention  is  directed  persistently  to  the 
anchor;  the  massive  hawser  is  quietly  ignored. 

The  reader  will  pardon  this  digression.  It 
affords  an  opportunity  too  good  to  be  neg- 

34 


Jean  Grolier 

lected  for  presenting  a  sharp  antithesis  between 
the  practices  of  two  representative  collectors, 
one  of  the  sixteenth  century  and  one  of  the 
eighteenth,  and  to  advocate  a  principle  which 
should  be  regarded  as  a  fundamental  axiom  in 
book-collecting;  namely,  the  preservation  of  a 
book  as  nearly  as  may  be  in  its  original  condi- 
tion. Old  bindings,  like  "old  books,  are  best." 
Spare  them  whenever  possible,  and  give  them 
the  benefit  of  the  best  bibliopegic  advice  and 
treatment  if  there  be  the  least  hope  of  convales- 
cence. Experience  inculcates  great  reserve  and 
hesitancy  in  the  destruction  of  old  bindings. 
Even  when  unadorned  they  may  be  adorned  the 
most  with  a  quaintness  and  originality  of  their 
own,  the  loss  of  which  is  never  compensated  by 
the  substitution  of  the  most  elaborate  dress  that 
a  modern  binder  can  supply. 

On  one  of  my  book-shelves  there  stands  a 
forma  minima  Horace  of  1627,  which  in  1708 
was  "Alexr  Campbell  Advocat  his  book,"  and' 
twenty-five  years  later  was  in  possession  of  the 
poet's  namesake,  Horace  Walpole.  It  is  in  an 
eighteenth-century  English  binding  of  black 
morocco,  some  delicate  sprays  of  gold  tooling 
are  on  the  sides,  and  it  has  a  "patina"  that  it 

35 


Jean  Grolier 

has  taken  over  a  hundred  years  to  acquire. 
What  wonder  or  what  care  if  its  corners  are  a 
little,  fortunately  only  a  little,  frayed  and  worn? 
Stripped  of  its  honest  old  leathern  jacket,  and 
decked  in  one  of  Cuzin's  brilliant  court-dresses, 
how  completely  would  it  be  despoiled  of  the 
magic  power  it  now  possesses  to  make  live  again 
its  former  dilettante  owner,  the  "recluse  of 
Strawberry,"  and  his  world — the  Ladies  Walde- 
grave  and  Mrs.  Clive,  the  "  beautiful  Gunnings  " 
and  witty,  talented  Mrs.  Darner,  all  the  "  fair  wo- 
men richly  gay"  who  with  their  attendant  wits 
and  beaux  rambled  over  the  "  enamelled  mea- 
dows set  with  filigree  hedges"  and  breakfasted 
to  the  music  of  French  horns  and  clarionettes 
in  the  fantastic  Gothic  villa  at  Twickenham. 
This  may  be  thought  too  extreme  a  case  for 
supposition,  but  as  flagrant  crimes  have  been 
committed  by  book-collectors  with  more  zeal 
than  taste  or  judgment.  Verily  the  last  state  of 
many  a  rebound  book  is  worse  than  the  first. 
The  materials  employed  in  the  bindings  ex- 
ecuted for  Grolier  were  levant  morocco,  which 
he  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  to  bring  into 
use,  and  fawn-  or  brown-colored  calf,  heavily 
crushed;  the  inside  linings  were  generally  of 

36 


Jean  Grolier 

fine  vellum  or  stout,  well-prepared  paper.  The 
back  generally  carried  little  or  no  ornament,  and 
the  decoration  was  confined  to  the  two  exterior 
sides  of  the  cover.  There  is  great  variety  in 
the  designs,  which  are  often  intricate  and  elabo- 
rate, but  always  in  pure  and  delicate  taste.  The 
following  is  the  concise  and  exact  technical  de- 
scription of  the  Grolier  style  given  by  our  own 
well-known  binder,  William  Matthews:  "An 
interlaced  frame-work  of  geometrical  figures, 
circles,  squares,  and  diamonds,  with  scroll-work 
running  through  it,  the  ornaments  of  which  are 
of  Moresque  character,  generally  azured  in  whole 
or  in  part,  sometimes  in  outline  only;  parts  of 
the  design  are  often  studded  with  gold  dots." 
The  compartments  were  generally  arranged  so 
as  to  leave  in  the  center  of  each  cover  an  open 
lozenge  or  shield,  in  one  of  which  was  placed  the 
title  of  the  book,  in  the  other  the  motto, 

PORTIO  MEA,  DOMINE,  SIT  IN 
TERRA  VIVENTIVM. 

Occasionally  we  find  the  words 

TANQVAM  VENTVS    EST  VITA    MEA 

37 


Jean  Grolier 

substituted.   At  the  foot,  between  the  gold  lines 
framing  the  design,  we  read, 

IO.  GROLIERII  ET  AMICORVM, 

in  Roman  characters  which  Grolier  is  said  to 
have  had  specially  designed  and  cut. 

Bernard  Quaritch  catalogues  a  Biblia  Sacra 
Veteris  et  Novi  Testamenti,  folio,  Paris,  1558, 
with  Grolier's  inscription  at  the  foot,  and  still 
another  motto, 

QUISQUE   SUOS   PATIMUR  MANES, 

occupying  the  center  panel. 

A  number  of  his  books  contain  an  impression 
of  his  arms,  now  so  familiar  to  the  members  of 
the  Grolier  Club,  composed  of  an  escutcheon  in 
the  conventional  or  armorial  form  of  the  head 
of  a  club.  On  a  blue  ground  are  three  so-called 
besants  in  gold,  surmounted  by  three  stars  in  sil- 
ver. A  gold  circle  surrounding  the  red  field 
upon  which  the  armorial  rests  bears  the  follow- 
ing inscription : 

M  •  JEHAN    GROLIER  •  CONSEILLER 

DU  •  ROY  •  TRESORIER  -TE  •  RECEVEUR 

GNE  •  EN  •  LA  •  D  •  D  •  MIL 


COAT   OF   ARMS   AND   EMBLEM   OF   GROLIER 


Jean  Grolier 

In  a  few  of  his  books  this  armorial  is  accom- 
panied by  an  emblem  relating  to  some  unknown 
event  in-  his  life.  It  represents  a  hand  issuing 
from  a  cloud  and  endeavoring  to  pluck  away 
an  iron  in  the  form  of  a  nail  which  is  fixed  upon 
the  highest  of  several  hillocks.  Upon  a  garter 
which  envelops  the  wrist  are  the  words  "^Eque 
Difficulter."  This  emblem,  together  with  the 
arms,  is  painted  on  the  first  page  of  a  copy  of 
P.  Ovidi  Naso,  Aldus,  1502,  now  in  possession 
of  a  New- York  collector. 

Two  of  his  friends,  the  Italian  Thomas  Maioli 
(of  whom,  beyond  the  proof  that  his  bindings 
afford  of  his  love  of  books,  there  is  little  infor- 
mation) and  Marc  Lanwin  (more  noted  as  a  man 
of  letters  and  friend  of  Erasmus  than  as  a  bib- 
liophile), adopted  similar  designs  for  their  bind- 
ings and  copied  his  now  famous  inscription. 
Following  this  group  of  collectors  some  years 
later  came  the  Genoese  physician  Demetrio  Can- 
evari;  specimens  from  his  library  are  even  rarer 
than  any  of  the  foregoing.  The  character  of 
the  decoration  is  similar,  with  the  addition  of  a 
medallion  centerpiece,  which  was  a  peculiarity 
of  his  bindings. 

Of  the  individuals  who  executed  these  bind- 

39 


Jean  Grolier 

ings  little  is  known.  A  French  poet,  Lesne*, 
states  that  Jean  and  Pierre  Gascon  worked  for 
Henry  II,  Diane  de  Poictiers,  and  Grolier.  It 
is  a  reasonable  conjecture  that  some  of  the  de- 
signs were  supplied  by  the  celebrated  printer 
and  engraver  Geofrey  Tory,"  so  much  resem- 
blance is  there  between  them  and  the  entourages 
of  pages  designed  by  the  printer  of  Bourges ;  in 
his  book  Champ  Fleury  Tory  records  the  fact 
that  he  made  antique  letters  for  Grolier. 

Some  may  have  been  Grolier's  own  concep- 
tion. A  medallion  designed  by  him  on  the 
verso  of  page  1 1 2  of  his  copy  of  the  Erasmi 
Adagiorum  shows  a  certain  amount  of  profi- 
ciency in  the  use  of  the  pencil,  and  it  might 
have  been  one  of  his  pastimes  "  to  trace  the  deli- 
cate meanderings  that  unroll  themselves  in  lines 
of  gold  on  the  rich  coverings  of  his  bindings." 
The  most  noted  French  craftsmen  of  the  time 
were  the  RofFets,  Pierre  and  Estienne,  booksellers 
and  binders  to  Francis  I,  according  to  the  label 
which  appears  in  a  few  early  sixteenth-century 
books :  "  Imprime  a  Paris  pour  Estienne  Roffet 
diet  le  Faulcheur,  libraire  &  relieur  du  Roy, 
demourant  sus  le  pont  Sainct  Michel  a  Penseigne 
de  la  Rose." 

40 


QUINTO   CURTIO,  VENICE,  1559. 

Contemporary  Roman  binding. 

Rom  Backford  Library,  Hamilton  Sale.     Size  of  original,  6x9  inches. 
COLLECTION  OF  W.  L.  ANDREWS. 


Jean  Grolier 

Almost  without  exception,  however,  the  bind- 
ings made  for  Grolier  are  of  Italian  workman- 
ship—  executed  in  Italy  or  by  Italian  artisans 
who  were  brought  by  him  in  considerable  num- 
bers to  Paris.  With  their  scholars  they  formed 
an  atelier  of  which  he  was  the  principal,  if  not 
for  a  long  time  the  only,  patron.  Here,  under 
his  own  direction  and  supervision,  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  most  artistic  bindings  contained 
in  his  library  were  produced  during  the  last  thirty 
years  of  his  life.  That  his  book-collecting  fever 
continued  unabated  almost  to  the  end  is  proved 
by  the  existence  of  a  book  bearing  his  name 
upon  the  cover  printed  in  1562,  three  years 
before  his  death. 

The  backs  of  the  bindings  which  are  intact 
(many  having  been  rebacked)  are,  as  we  have 
seen,  almost  entirely  without  ornamentation, 
while  the  decoration  is  freely  lavished  upon 
the  covers.  In  all  probability  the  books  in 
Grolier's  library  were  laid  upon  their  sides  in 
the  same  manner  as  they  are  now  exhibited 
in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  thus  exposing  the 
entire  embellishment  of  one  cover,  which  also 
brought  the  title  to  view.  A  library  so  arranged, 
and  at  the  same  time  composed  largely  of  folio 


Jean  Grolier 

volumes,  would  require  much  space  for  its  ac- 
commodation. Consequently  we  find  that  the 
library  of  Charles  V  at  the  Louvre,  composed  of 
only  nine  hundred  volumes,  occupied  no  less  than 
three  floors  of  one  of  the  towers  of  the  palace. 
After  Grolier's  death  his  library  was  divided 
among  several  heirs,  the  largest  portion  becom- 
ing the  property,  partly  by  inheritance  and  partly 
by  purchase,  of  Mery  de  Vic,  guardian  of  the 
seals  under  Louis  XIII.  They  were  retained 
in  his  family  for  nearly  a  century,  when  they 
were  dispersed  by  public  auction.  An  author 
of  this  period,  Vigneul  de  Marville,  who  had  the 
privilege  of  beholding  these  books  when  they 
must  have  retained  much  of  their  original  fresh- 
ness and  beauty,  and  who  secured  a  number  of 
them  at  the  sale, — by  which  he  says  "most  of 
the  connoisseurs  of  Paris  profited," — describes 
them  in  this  enthusiastic  and  flowery  fashion: 
"Seeing  these  books  it  would  appear  that  the 
muses  who  had  contributed  to  the  composition 
of  the  inside  had  also  applied  themselves  to  the 
adaptation  of  the  outside,  so  much  of  art  and 
spirit  appears  in  their  ornamentation.  They  are 
all  gilded  with  a  delicacy  unknown  to  the  gilders 
of  to-day.  The  compartments  are  painted  in 

42 


Jean  Grolier 

various  colors  perfectly  well  designed,  and  all 
of  different  forms." 

As  the  note  from  which  this  extract  was  taken 
is  brief  and  interesting  as  an  early  reference  to 
Grolier's  library,  I  copy  it  in  its  entirety  below.* 

*M.  Grollier  Tresorier  de  France,  &  notre  Ambassadeur  a  la 
Cour  de  Rome  sous  Francois  I.  Vir  mundttice  &  elegantice  in  omni 
vita  assuetus,  part  elegantid  ac  munditid  ornatos  ac  libros  dis- 
positos  domi  tarn  curiose  asservabat,  ut  eju&  Biblioiheca  cum  Bib- 
liotheca  Asinii  Pottionis  {quce  prima  Romce  instituta  est)  componi 
meruerit.  Cest  1'eloge  qui  lui  donne  M.  de  Thou  dans  son 
Histoire. 

La  Biblioteque  de  M.  Grollier  s'est  conservee  dans  1'Hotel  de 
Vic  jusqu'a  ces  annees  dernieres  qu'elle  a  ete  vendue  a  1'encan. 
Elle  meritoit  bien,  etant  une  des  premieres  &  des  plus  accom- 
plies  qu'aucun  particulier  se  soit  avise  de  faire  a  Paris,  de 
trouver  comme  celle  de  M.  de  Thou,  un  acheteur  qui  en  conser- 
v£t  le  lustre.  La  plupart  des  curieux  de  Paris  ont  profite  de  ses 
debris.  J'en  ai  eu  a  ma  part  quelques  volumes  a  qui  rien  ne 
manque,  ni  pour  la  bonte  des  Editions  de  ce  tems-la,  ni  pour  la 
beaute  du  papier  &  la  proprete  de  la  relieure.  II  semble  a  les 
voir,  queles  Muses  qui  ont  contribue  a  la  composition  du  dedans, 
se  soient  aussi  apliquees  a  les  aproprier  au  dehors,  tant  il  paroit 
d'art  et  d'esprit  dans  leur  ornemens :  Us  sont  tous  dorez  avec 
une  delicatesse  inconnue  aux  Doreurs  d'aujourd'  hui:  Les  com- 
partimens  sont  peints  de  diverses  couleurs,  parfaitement  bien 
dessinez,  &  tous  des  differentes  figures :  Dans  les  cartouches 
se  voit  d'un  cote  en  lettres  d'or  le  titre  du  Livre,  &  au  dessous, 
ces  mots  qui  marquent  le  caractere  si  honnete  de  M.  Grollier, 
lo  Grollierii  &  Amicorum;  &  de  1'autre  cote  cette  Devise,  te- 
moignage  sincere  de  sa  piete :  Portio  mea,  Domine,  sit  in  terra 
viventium.f 

f  Melanges  d'Histoire  et  de  Litterature  par  M.  Vigneul  de  Marville, 
Paris,  1725. 

43 


Jean  Grolier 

Among  the  early  possessors  of  books  from  the 
library  of  Grolier,  some  of  which  were  acquired 
at  this  the  first  public  opportunity,  are  found 
the  names  of  Henry  de  Mesmes,  De  Thou, 
Pithou,  Balesdens,  Bigot,  Du  Fay,  Flechier, 
Colbert,  Count  Hoym,  Gaignat,  and  le  Due 
de  Valli£re;  in  later  times  MacCarthy  Reagh, 
Renouard,  Didot,  Yemeniz,  Brunet,  Cracherode, 
Dibdin,  and  Techener.  At  the  risk  of  some 
repetition  of  the  above,  the  following  summary 
is  given  of  the  principal  private  libraries  through 
which  these  bindings  have  passed,  and  the  num- 
ber included  in  each:  Cracherode,  18;  Baron 
Hohendorf,  16;  Libri,  15;  Renouard,  14;  Tech- 
ener, 12;  Yemenez,  12;  Bigot,  11;  Coste,  10; 
Flechier,  10;  Duke  of  Marlborough,  9;  Balles- 
dens,  9;  Prince  de  Soubise,  8;  Grenville,  8; 
MacCarthy  Reagh,  7 ;  De  Thou,  6 ;  Lord  Gos- 
ford,  6;  Solar,  6;  Du  Fay,  5;  Count  Hoym, 
5;  Petau  and  Mansart,  5;  Potier,  5;  John 
Dent,  5;  Lamoignon,  4;  Double,  4;  Robert 
Turner,  3;  Due  d'Aumale,  6.  This  enumera- 
tion was  made  by  Le  Roux  de  Lincy  in  1866. 
The  Due  d'Aumale's  collection  has  undoubtedly 
been  considerably  increased  since  then.  It  is,  so 
far  as  I  am  aware,  the  only  one  of  the  foregoing 


44 


Jean  Grolier 

which  remains  intact ;  the  others  have  been  either 
donated  or  bequeathed  to  public  institutions,  or 
dispersed  by  sale  at  auction. 

The  largest  collection  of  the  present  day  is, 
as  would  naturally  be  expected,  in  the  National 
Library  at  Paris.  It  numbers  sixty-four  vol- 
umes, without  the  certainty  that  all  that  exist 
are  known.  Most  of  them  are  in  good  preser- 
vation, and  twenty  are  of  the  very  finest  qual- 
ity. Many  have  been  obtained  through  gift 
or  legacy,  but  a  number  were  acquired  by  Van 
Praet  (Dutchman  by  birth,  Frenchman  by  edu- 
cation), keeper  of  the  printed  books  from  1794 
to  1839,  a  bibliographer  who  was  one  of  the 
first  to  understand  and  appreciate  their  beauty 
and  value.  To  Van  Praet  belongs,  according 
to  Dibdin,  the  honor  of  having  rescued  the 
book  treasures  of  the  Abbey  St.  Germain  de 
Prez  from  destruction  during  the  horrors  of 
the  Revolution,  and  of  thus  being  instrumental 
in  the  preservation  of  some  of  the  choicest 
examples  of  Grolier  bindings. 

Further  additions  were  made  by  Van  Praet's 
successors,  the  brothers  De  Bure,  who  had  charge 
of  the  library  for  nearly  half  a  century,  and 
who  for  many  years  previous  to  their  appoint- 

45 


Jean  Grolier 

ment  to  this  office  were  booksellers  to  the 
king  and  to  the  Royal  Library,  and  were  con- 
sequently familiar  with  its  affairs.  A  singular 
fact  in  their  history  is  that,  although  the  most 
prominent  book-dealers  in  Paris,  and  having 
vast  numbers  of  rare  and  valuable  books  pass 
through  their  hands,  including  the  splendid 
MacCarthy  Collection,  they  never,  in  the  course 
of  a  business  career  extending  over  two  gene- 
rations, issued  a  booksellers'  catalogue. 

During  the  entire  period  covered  by  the  ad- 
ministration of  Van  Praet  and  the  De  Bures,  it 
was  possible  to  make  these  now  invaluable  ac- 
quisitions at  a  most  moderate  cost. 

The  next  in  importance  of  the  French  col- 
lections is  that  of  the  Bibliotheque  St.  Gene- 
vieve.  It  contains  fifteen  examples,  all  very 
remarkable.  They  were  the  bequest,  in  1709, 
of  Charles  Maurice  Le  Tellier,  Archbishop  of 
Rheims. 

Some  few  Grolier  bindings  enrich  the  libra- 
ries at  Lyons,  Marseilles,  and  other  cities  of 
France.  The  British  Museum  possesses  twen- 
ty-eight, eighteen  of  which  are  included  in  the 
Cracherode  Collection  and  originally  formed 
part  of  the  two  hundred  volumes  which  Crache- 

46 


PAULI  JOVII  NOVOCOMENSIS  EPISCOP1,  FLORENCE,  1509. 

From  Didot  and  Techener  Sales.     Size  of  original,  9x  13^  inches. 

COLLECTION  OF  GEORGE  B.  DE  FOREST. 


Jean  Grolier 

rode  purchased  from  the  library  of  De  Thou. 
The  Grenville  Collection,  also  in  the  British 
Museum,  contains  eight  examples,  sixteen  are 
in  the  library  at  Vienna,  and  still  others  are  pre- 
served in  public  libraries  and  in  the  hands  of 
collectors  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  In  this 
country  there  are  not  more  than  eight  or  ten 
Grolier  bindings,  all  in  private  libraries;  but 
among  them  are  some  of  the  highest  quality. 
The  prices  brought  by  books  from  Grolier's 
library  when  first  offered  for  sale — and  for 
many  years  thereafter — were  far  from  exces- 
sive; in  fact,  they  were  extremely  moderate. 
At  Petau's  sale  in  1722,  and  at  Count  Hoym's 
as  late  as  1769,  the  price  per  volume  rarely 
exceeded  twenty  francs,  and  some  were  sold 
for  from  three  to  five  francs.  In  1789,  at  the 
Soubise  sale,  values  began  to  increase,  stimu- 
lated by  a  demand  from  English  collectors, 
Cracherode  paying  forty-eight  francs  for  the 
Aldine  Silvius  Italicus.  Still,  until  1830  these 
bindings  remained  depressed  in  value,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  their  artistic  quality  was 
being  rapidly  appreciated  by  both  English  and 
French  collectors.  In  1830  the  rise  began  in 
earnest;  the  price  advanced  in  that  year  to  150 


47 


Jean  Grolier 

and  200  francs  per  volume,  and  to  500  and 
600  francs  by  1845,  despite  the  disturbed  con- 
dition of  European  affairs  during  that  period. 
In  Renouard's  sale,  1854,  1600  francs  was  paid 
for  a  copy  of  the  Aldine  Virgil  of  1527,  the 
initials  painted  in  gold  and  colors,  described 
as  being  in  perfect  condition. 

The  enhancement  in  price  since  the  middle 
of  this  century  has  been  rapid.  ^300  was  the 
highest  price  realized  at  the  Duke  of  Hamil- 
ton's sale  in  1883;  but  at  the  Techener  sale,  in 
1887,  12,000  francs  was  paid  for  the  Heliodori 
^Ethiopicse  Historian  —  American  competition 
then  making  its  appearance  as  an  important 
factor  for  the  first  time.  Undoubtedly  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  Grolier  Club  in  New- York 
three  years  previously  influenced  prices  at  this 
sale,  for  members  of  that  organization  outbid 
the  French  collectors  for  all  the  choicest  num- 
bers. 

Grolier's  copy  of  Heliodorus,  of  which  a  re- 
production is  given,  belonged  formerly  to  the 
library  of  Balesdens,  and  has  passed  through 
the  well-known  Libri  and  Double  collections, 
selling  for  2650  francs  in  the  Libri  sale,  and  for 
3505  francs  in  the  Double  sale.  The  decora- 

48 


Jean  Grolier 

tion  is  elaborate  and  beautiful  in  the  extreme, 
and  it  is  undeniably  one  of  the  finest  examples 
in  existence,  not  excepting  those  in  the  great 
Paris  libraries. 

In  Bernard  Quaritch's  catalogue  of  books 
in  historical  or  remarkable  bindings,  issued  in 
1883  (the  one  which  is  placed  by  Mr.  Smalley 
among  the  curiosities  of  booksellers'  litera- 
ture), five  Grolier  bindings  are  offered  at  prices 
as  follows:  Lactantii,  1465,  ^600;  Esopo  His- 
toriado,  1493,  ^"320;  Nicolai  Primi,  1542, 
^300;  Biblia  Sacra,  1558,  ^180;  Guerra  (re- 
backed),  ^40.  For  the  high-priced  Lactantius 
the  claim  is  made  that  the  rarity  and  impor- 
tance of  the  book  itself  give  it  an  additional 
value  much  beyond  that  of  its  binding.  It 
would  indeed  appear  from  the  cataloguer's 
note,  which  for  its  unconscious  humor  alone  is 
entitled  to  repetition  here,  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  value  must  be  inside  the  covers;  time, 
worms,  and  an  unknown  Italian  marquis  hav- 
ing combined  to  wreck  the  exterior. 

Lactantii  Firmiani  de  Divinis,  etc.  Editio  princeps,  and 
the  first  dated  book  printed  in  Italy:  The  ornamentation 
on  the  back  of  this  marvelous  volume  is  like  the  subsidiary 
arabesques  on  the  sides,  and  it  is  still  visible  although  some 

7  49 


Jean  Grolier 

Italian  marquis  in  the  17th  century  had  his  own  coronet  and 
monogram  superposed,  and  notwithstanding  that  two  of  the 
compartments  have  been  attacked  by  worms.  The  glorious 
sides,  however,  have  only  succumbed  to  time  and  lost 
somewhat  of  their  freshness ;  but  no  worm  or  marquis  has 
invaded  the  beauty  of  their  rich  decoration.  Here  is  a 
combination  of  excellency  seldom  if  ever  obtainable  —  a 
rare  volume  of  the  highest  value  and  importance  clad  in  the 
precious  robes  of  Grolier's  library.  The  Grolier  books 
that  have  turned  up  at  auctions  during  the  present  century 
have  almost  invariably  been  books  of  small  value  apart  from 
their  bindings. 

Excessive  rarity  is  also  claimed  by  the  dealer 
for  the  Esopo,  but  not  for  the  Nicolai  at  a  dif- 
ference in  price  of  only  ^20,  which  may  or 
may  not  be  accounted  for  by  the  amount  of 
decoration  on  the  binding. 

The  foregoing  prices  mark  the  highest  limits 
yet  attained  for  books  from  this  famous  col- 
lection, but  the  fact  truthfully  stated  by  Mr. 
Quaritch  must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  these 
prices  were  obtained  for  books  possessing  in 
most  instances  little  interest  to  the  modern 
book-buyer  beyond  their  bindings  and  "prov- 
enance." It  would  be  difficult  to  set  a  limit  to 
the  bidding  upon  a  book  such  as  the  manu- 
script Virgil  in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale. 


B.  CASTIGLIONE  LIBRO  DEL  CORTEGIANO,  VENICE,  1528. 

From  Sunderland  Sale.     Size  of  original,  8  x  I2^<  inches. 

COLLECTION  OF  ROBERT  HOE. 


Jean  Grolier 

It  is  very  evident  that  these  triumphs  of  the 
bookbinder's  skill,  after  remaining  so  long  un- 
appreciated by  all  but  the  very  few,  have  come 
at  last  to  be  rightfully  recognized  as  among  the 
art  treasures  of  the  cultivated  world  which,  in 
their  own  department,  appeal  to  our  sense  of 
beauty  quite  as  strongly  as  any  other  of  the 
manifold  forms  of  art  expression.  This  prop- 
osition will  naturally  be  gainsaid  by  those  who 
deny  the  universality  of  art  and  implicitly  be- 
lieve that  the  painter  on  canvas  and  the  sculp- 
tor in  stone  enjoy  an  exclusive  monopoly  of 
the  divine  afflatus. 

In  the  course  of  his  travels  Grolier  had,  in 
addition  to  books,  collected  a  large  number 
of  gold  and  silver  coins  and  antique  medals. 
Jacques  de  Strada,"  an  early  student  and  col- 
lector of  ancient  coins,  and  the  first  bric-k-brac 
dealer  and  keeper  of  an  old  curiosity  shop  on 
record,  refers  to  Grolier's  cabinet  as  containing 
"an  almost  innumerable  quantity  of  pieces  of 
gold,  silver,  and  copper  coins  and  medals,  large 
and  small."  To  this  testimony  to  the  remark- 
able richness  of  the  collection  may  be  added  that 
of  John  Sambucus,  an  Hungarian  physician  and 
antiquarian,  historian  of  the  Emperors  Maxi- 


Jean  Grolier 

milian  II  and  Rudolph  II  of  Austria.  He  had 
for  twenty  years  traversed  Europe  in  search  of 
manuscripts,  medals,  and  curiosities  of  every  de- 
scription. At  the  end  of  a  book  of  emblems 
which  he  published  at  the  Plantin  Press,  in 
1564,  are  reproductions  of  forty-four  medals, 
up  to  that  time,  he  states,  undescribed,  which 
are  supposed  to  have  been  taken  from  Grolier's 
immense  collection.  In  the  dedication  of  this 
book  to  Grolier,  Sambucus  speaks  of  the  "  wise 
and  interesting  conversations  he  had  held  with 
him,  and  which  he  carefully  treasured  in  his 
memory." 

This  collection  of  medals  and  antiquities, 
having,  after  its  owner's  death,  been  transported 
as  far  as  Marseilles  on  its  way  to  Italy  to  be 
sold,  was  purchased  at  a  liberal  price  by  Charles 
IX,  doubtless  at  the  instigation  of  his  tutor  and 
Grand  Almoner,  the  erudite  Jacques  Amyot. 
It  was  added  to  the  collection  at  Fontaine- 
bleau,  whence  unhappily  it  appears  to  have  been 
pillaged  during  the  wars  of  the  Holy  League 
in  1576. 

Toward  the  end  of  his  life  Grolier  had  the 
misfortune  to  fall  under  serious  accusations  rela- 
tive to  the  discharge  of  his  public  functions, 


Jean  Grolier 

which  threatened  him  at  one  time  with  the  loss 
of  his  property,  if  not  of  his  life.  But  on  the 
lyth  of  December,  1561,  a  court  presided  over 
by  Christophe  de  Thou,  father  of  the  celebrated 
bibliophile  Jacques  de  Thou,  annulled  the  legal 
process  against  him  and  relieved  him  from  a 
burden  which  had  harassed  and  troubled  him 
a  number  of  years.  Through  it  all,  however,  he 
appears  to  have  retained  the  confidence  of  the 
King  and  to  have  kept  his  various  positions  in 
the  royal  service. 

Among  the  books  presented  by  Grolier  to 
his  friends  are  five  to  De  Thou,  probably  in 
gratitude  for  the  service  rendered  to  him  on 
this  occasion.  One  of  these  volumes,  OEuvres 
de  Hippocrate,  is  now  in  the  Bibliotheque  du 
Louvre. 

Grolier  at  the  age  of  37  married  Anne  Bri- 
c,onnet,  daughter  of  Messire  Nicolas  Bri9onnet, 
Chevalier,  Controller-General  of  the  Finances 
of  Bretagne.  There  were  five  children  of  this 
marriage,  one  son,  who  died  without  issue,  and 
four  daughters,  one  of  whom  became  Abbess 
of  Longchamps  near  Paris.  The  direct  line  of 
his  family  is  now  extinct,  but  the  name  is  still 
perpetuated  in  Touraine  and  Beauvoisis  by 

53 


Jean  Grolier 

the  descendants  of  his  uncle,  Antoine  Grolier, 
who  died  at  Naples  in  1523,  and  is  said  to 
have  had,  like  his  nephew,  a  passion  for  books. 

The  family  appears  to  have  been  somewhat 
remarkable  for  the  longevity  of  its  members, 
one  Nicolas,  born  at  Lyons  in  1593,  living  to 
the  age  of  93.  He  composed  for  himself  this 
epitaph  :  Here  lies  one  who  lived  long  because 
he  knew  neither  lawsuit  nor  doctor. 

Grolier's  death  occurred  at  Paris  in  the  Rue 
de  Bucy,  at  the  house  which  he  had  built,  called 
the  Hotel  de  Lyon;  and  his  body  was  interred 
before  the  altar  of  the  Abbey  St.  Germain  de 
Prez.  The  monument  on  his  tomb  in  the 
crypt,  which  bore  his  portrait,  unfortunately  has 
been  destroyed,  and  there  is  now  no  likeness 
of  him  in  existence. 

GROLIER'S  EPITAPH. 

Cp  gist  $9es£ire  3lel>an  0rolUer, 
en  son  intent  rtjetaUer,  seigneur 
ijtcomte  D'agufep,  tljr&orter  De  9I& 
Ian  et  ue  jfrance,  en  la  charge  et 
t&r&orerte  ffoultre  ^eine  et  i^onne, 
general  De0  finances  mi  Ho&  <jui 
le  22  octobre  1565* 
SDieu  pour 

54 


ARMS    OF   GROLIER   AFTER    HIS   MARRIAGE 


aye  5;  G ERM ATN  ae  'are z. . 


THE    BURIAL   PLACE   OF   GROLIER. 

From  a  print  in  the  Typographia  Galliae.    Amsterdam,  1660. 


Jean  Grolier 
At  the  foot  of  his  effigy  was  this  inscription : 

Joanni  Grolerio,  Insubriae  dudum,  Galliae  nuper  Quaestori 
Castiss.  fideliss.  integer,  v.  c.  virtutum  omnium  litterarum 
comprimis,  et  venerandae  antiquitatis  Amantiss.  Observan- 
tiss.  Studiosiss.  Anna  et  Jacobella  filiae.  Anthonius  et  Petrus 
nepotes  Parent!  Cariss.  MMM.  PP.  Vixit  annos  LXXXVI. 
obiit  xi.  Kal.  Novemb. 

Such  is  an  imperfect  outline  of  the  life  and 
character  of  this  famous  book-collector,  the 
man  whom  his  long-time  and  intimate  friend 
De  Thou  describes  as  of  equal  elegance  of 
manners  and  spotlessness  of  character.  Ad- 
mitting that  in  this  epigrammatic  tribute  there 
may  be  a  touch  of  sixteenth-century  hyperbole, 
we  have  still  in  the  unembellished  narrative  of 
his  life  sufficient  proof  that  he  possessed  in  an 
unusual  degree  qualities  of  head  and  heart  that 
won  him  the  respect  and  admiration,  the  re- 
gard and  affection,  of  his  contemporaries.  The 
one  discordant  note  is  struck  by  that  man  of 
wars  and  brawls,  the  hot-headed  Italian  gold- 
smith, Benvenuto  Cellini,  with  whom,  judging 
his  character  from  his  own  frankly  written 
memoirs,  it  would  appear  to  have  been  quite 
impassible  for  any  one  to  maintain  amicable 
relations. 

55 


Jean  Grolier 

Born  in  an  age  without  doubt  crowded  with 
more  great  events  than  any  other  period  of  the 
world's  history, — the  discovery  of  America,  the 
invention  of  printing,  the  beginning  of  the 
Reformation,  the  first  use  of  gunpowder,  which 
caused  a  revolution  in  the  mode  of  warfare, — 
Jean  Grolier  lived  through  more  than  half  the 
succeeding  century,  during  which  these  forces 
developed  and  occasioned  great  social,  political, 
commercial,  and  religious  changes.  Thus  his 
entire  life  was  passed  in  prominent  and  active 
participation  in  the  affairs  of  an  age  of  struggle, 
conflict,  movement,  and  progress.  Yet  it  is 
not  for  his  statesmanship,  nor  as  an  able  finan- 
cier, nor  as  a  loyal  subject  and  servant  enjoying 
throughout  a  long  lifetime  the  trust  and  con- 
fidence of  his  many  royal  masters,  but  as  a  man 
who  made  his  love  of  letters  the  principal  oc- 
cupation of  his  life,  and  as  a  bibliophile  of  the 
first  rank  who  dignified  the  pursuit  of  book- 
collecting  by  making  it  the  hand-maid  of  learn- 
ing, that  his  name  has  been  rescued  from  all 
but  oblivion  by  those  who  share  with  him  the 
love  of  beautiful  books  in  fitting  and  appro- 
priate bindings  — a  passion  which,  far  from  be- 
ing an  idle  one,  is,  as  has  been  justly  claimed 

56 


Jean  Grolier 

by  an  eighteenth-century  poet,  Lesne*,  a  con- 
serving force  of  the  highest  importance  to  liter- 
ature. The  binding,  he  says,  is  to  typography 
what  the  latter  is  to  the  other  arts.  The  one 
transmits  to  posterity  the  works  of  savants  and 
artists,  the  other  preserves  for  it  the  productions 
of  typography.  A  binding  poorly  executed  is 
a  veritable  larceny  from  future  ages,  and  the 
savants  of  all  times  without  doubt  regret  that 
these  two  arts  did  not  have  their  birth  in  an- 
cient Greece. 

The  extent  to  which  Grolier,  by  the  power 
of  his  rank,  wealth,  and  social  and  political  in- 
fluence, contributed  to  the  literary  advancement 
of  the  sixteenth  century  may  not  accurately  be 
determined,  but  it  is  beyond  question  that  his 
figure  is  the  central  and  conspicuous  one  in 
that  circle  of  distinguished  scholars,  poets,  and 
philosophers,  members  of  the  famous  Aldine 
Neacademia,  who  aided  in  such  large  measure 
to  develop,  and  who  so  brilliantly  adorned,  a 
period  of  the  Renaissance  remarkable  alike  for 
its  literary  and  artistic  activity. 

With  what  delight  and  eagerness  this  man 
of  affairs  must  have  turned  at  every  opportu- 
nity from  the  perplexing  cares  of  state  and  the 

8  57 


Jean  Grolier 

turmoil  of  his  busy  political  life  to  the  quiet 
environment  of  the  books  he  so  fondly  loved 
and  cherished,  and  to  the  congenial  companion- 
ship of  the  men  of  art  and  letters  he  constantly 
drew  around  him  and  made  the  recipients  of 
his  unwearying  kindness  and  princely  generos- 
ity !  As  he  leaves  this  circle  of  chosen  friends 
when  the  talk,  which  is  "  all  of  Plato  and  Ovid, 
Virgil  and  Aristotle,"  is  over,  let  us  follow  him 
in  imagination  hastening  across  the  still  waters 
of  the  Lagoon  to  the  busy  Stamperia  in  its 
quiet  corner  of  the  Campo  di  San  Agostino. 
Over  the  portal  is  suspended  the  placard  warn- 
ing the  visitor  to  state  quickly  his  business 
and  be  gone ;  but  for  one  who  over  the  often 
dry,  musty,  and  worm-eaten  pages  of  biblio- 
graphical story  has  thrown  the  charm  of  a  per- 
sonality around  which  is  entwined  so  much  of 
the  romance  of  the  age  of  chivalry  in  which 
he  lived,  we  know  that  the  door  of  the  printing- 
house  of  Aldo  il  Vecchio  stood  ever  ajar,  and 
that  its  most  honored  and  welcome  guest  was 
Francois  d'Asola's  "  dear  "  friend  Jean  Grolier. 

FINIS. 

58 


NOTES 


NOTES. 


i  De  Thou  (Jacques  Auguste),  was  born  at  Paris  in  1553, 
and  died  there  in  1617.  He  is  best  and  most  widely 
known  by  the  library  he  collected,  unequaled  at  that  time 
for  the  number  and  richness  of  the  books  it  contained.  In 
making  an  ambassadorial  visit  to  Italy,  in  company  with 
Paul  de  Foux,  it  is  said  that  he  never  allowed  himself  to 
pass  a  single  printing-establishment  or  celebrated  library 
without  making  it  a  lengthy  visit.  Vigneul  de  Marville 
writes  thus  of  the  library  formed  by  him  and  his  father  Chris- 
tophe :  "  The  Messrs.  De  Thou,  who  have  been  the  glory  and 
ornament  of  belles  lettres  amongst  us  for  so  long  a  time, 
not  only  had  the  noble  passion  of  filling  their  libraries  with 
beautiful  books,  for  which  they  had  searched  throughout 
Europe,  but  were  also  most  careful  that  these  books  should 
be  in  perfect  condition.  Whenever  there  was  printed  in 
France,  or  even  in  foreign  countries,  any  good  book  they 
had  two  or  three  copies  on  fine  and  large  paper  made  ex- 
pressly for  themselves;  or,  purchasing  several  copies,  they 
would  select  from  them  the  most  beautiful  leaves,  and  thus 
procure  the  most  perfect  book  possible.  Nevertheless,  after 

61 


Jean  Grolier 

so  much  care  and  expense,  this  rich  and  beautiful  library 
has  been  on  the  point  of  being  scattered.  It  is  only  by  pass- 
ing into  other  hands  and  changing  its  name  that  it  has  been 
saved  from  shipwreck.  M.  de  Menard  purchased  it,  and 
to-day  it  is  no  longer  Bibliotheca  Thuana  so  celebrated 
throughout  Europe,  but  by  its  fate  Bibliotheca  Menarsiana, 
as  it  is  called  by  Santeuil*  in  a  Latin  poem  which  draws 
tears  from  our  eyes.  This  library  belongs  at  present  to  the 
Cardinal  de  Rohan,  who  has  neglected  nothing  necessary 
to  preserve  its  ancient  splendor." 

2  Lacroix  du  Maine  (Francois,  Sieur  de),  a  noted  French 
bibliographer,  native  of  Mans,   assassinated    at   Tours  in 
1592.      His  entire  life  was  consecrated   to  bibliographical 
labor.     After  having  passed  forty  years  in  making  his  com- 
pilations, he  came  to  Paris,  followed  by  three  carts  piled 
with  his  books  and  memoirs.     His  modest  residence  be- 
came the  resort  of  the  learned  men  of  Paris,  among  them 
Belleforest,  Brisson,  and  Scaliger,  whom  he  entertained  with 
the  display  of  the  literary  treasures  he  had  collected  and  an 
account  of  his  forty  years  of  research.     He  left  a  number 
of  books,  all  of  a  bibliographical  and  antiquarian  character. 

3  Lacroix  (Paul),  pseudonym  Le  Pere  Jacob,  born  at 
Paris  in  1807,  the  most  famous  of  the  modern  French  bib- 
liophiles and  a   voluminous   writer.     His  Histoire  du  Si- 
zieme  Siecle  gained  him  at  the  age  of  eighteen  the  cross 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor.     Besides  his  numerous  romances 
he  published  a  large  number  of  book  catalogues  filled  with 
curious   literary   and   bibliographical    notes,  and    was    also 
editor  of  several  art  journals. 

*Jean-Baptiste  Santeuil.     Born  Paris,  1630. 
62 


Jean  Grolier 

4  Bede  (Beda  Venerabilis),  a  celebrated  monk  and  his- 
torian, born   at   Wearmouth  in  675,  and  died,  according 
to  the  best  authorities,  in  735.     His  shrine  in  the  Abbey 
Church  of  Durham   was  still  in  existence  in  the  time  of 
Erasmus.     He  was  a  most  remarkable  character,  self-taught 
in   his  cell    by   his  own   unaided   studies    of  ancient   his- 
tory, especially  those  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Church.     "  He 
presents  the  extraordinary  phenomenon  of  an  hyperborean 
savant  in  an  epoch  when  Italy  itself  was  plunged  in  bar- 
barism."    The  British  Museum  possesses  a  copy  of  the  Latin 
Evangels  with  an  Anglo-Saxon  gloss  or  commentary  inter- 
lined, written  before  720,  which  appears  to  have  belonged 
to  the  Venerable  Bede  himself. 

5  Alcuin,  Alcwin,  or  Alchwin  (Flaccus  Albinus),  libra- 
rian to  King  Egbert,  restorer  of  letters  under  Charlemagne, 
called  by  Ashmole  "one  of  the  school-mistresses  to  France." 
He  was  born  at  York  in  735,  and  died  in  804.    The  many 
literary  works  of  which  he  was  the  author,  although  mostly 
theological,    embrace    essays    on    mathematics,   astronomy, 
dialectics,  and  rhetoric.     There  exists  a  curious  example  of 
the  mode  of  teaching  adopted  by  him  in  the  school  of  the 
palace  in  what  he  styles  a  Disputatio  between  himself  and 
Pepin.     The  following  is  a  selection  from  the  Questions  and 
Answers  it  contains : 

What  is  writing  ? 
The  Guardian  of  History. 
What  is  life? 

Power  for  the  happy,  sorrow  for  the  miserable. 
How  is  man  placed  ? 
Like  a  lantern  exposed  to  the  wind. 

63 


Jean  Grolier 

What  is  day? 

A  provocation  to  labor. 

What  are  vegetables? 

The  friend  of  doctors  and  the  glory  of  cooks. 

What  is  friendship? 
The  similarity  of  souls. 

6  Foucquet  (Jean),  of  the  School  of  Tours.     The  dates 
of  his  birth  and  death  are  both  uncertain;  he  was,  however, 
known  to  be  living  in  1477,  and  is  thought  to  have  died  in 
1485.     He  was  quite  unknown  until  near  the  close  of  the 
last  century,  when  forty  fragments  of  the  manuscript  Book 
of  Hours  executed  by  him  for  Maistre  fistienne  Chevalier 
fell  into  the  hands  of  an  amateur,  George  Brentano  Laroche, 
of  Frankfort-sur-Main.     A  reproduction  of  these  beautiful 
miniatures  in  chromolithography  was  published  by  L.  Cur- 
mer,  Paris,  1866,  with  the  text  of  the  manuscript  restored 
by  the  Abbe*    de  Launay.     Among  the   other  nine  works 
attributed  to  him  is  a  diptych  found  in  the  Church  of  Notre 
Dame   of  Melun,   Chevalier's   native  city.     The  painting 
in   one    compartment    represents    Agnes    Sorel,   under  the 
figure  of  the  Virgin,  the  pendant  being  a  portrait  of  Chev- 
alier.    The  two  pictures  are  now  separated:   the  first  is  in 
the  Antwerp  Museum,  and  the  second  at  Frankfort  in  the 
possession  of  M.  Brentano  Laroche. 

7  Rhenanus  (Beatus),  scholar  and  reformer,  born  in  1485, 
died  at  Strasbourg  in  1547.     Inheriting  a  large  fortune  from 
his  father,  he  was  able  to  follow  his  literary  tastes,  and  de- 
voted his  entire  time  to  study  and  the  vast  correspondence 
which  he  carried  on  with  all  the  noted  scholars  of  his  epoch. 

64 


Jean  Grolier 


FULL    TITLE    OF    THE    BOOK    OF    BUDE". 

8  Guillielmi  Budaei  Parisiensis,  secretarii  regii,  libri  V  dc 
Asse   et  Partib.  ejus,  post   duas  parisienses  impressiones  ab 
eodem   ipso   Budaeo   castigati,   idq;   authore   Jo.   Grolierio 
Lugdunensi,  Christianissimi  Gallorum.    Regis  Secretario,  et 
Gallicarum  copiarum  Quaestore,  cui  etiam   ob  nostram  in 
eum  observantiam  a  nobis  illi  dicantur.  MDXXII.    Vene- 
tiis,  in  aedibus  Aldi  et  And.  Asulani  soceri.     A  copy  on 
large  paper  was  in  the  library  of  M.  Wodhull. 

9  Politiani  (Angeli),  Omnia  Opera,  452  pages,  not  num- 
bered, folio,  Venetiis,  1488.    "Cette  rare  edition,  Pune  des 
plus  belles  qui  soient  sortie  de  Pimprimerie  Aldine."     Re- 
nouard. 

10  Argonne  (Noel  d'),  called  Bonaventure.    A  Carthusian 
friar,   born    at    Paris  in    1634, 

and  died  in  1704  at  the  Monas- 
tery of  Gaillon.  According  to 
Voltaire  he  was  the  only  Car- 
thusian monk  that  had  ever  cul- 
tivated literature.  "A  man  of 
wit  and  erudition." 

11  Tory    (Geofrey),    styled 
Maitre  au  Pot  Casse*,  from  the 
sign  of  his  book-shop  and  the 
mark  which  appears  on  his  pub- 
lications,  was    born    at   Bruges 
about   1480,  and  died  atTaris 
in  1533.     In  his  curious  work 
Champ  Fleury,  "  The  art  and 
science  of  the    clear  and   true 

9  65 


0 


GEOFREY  TORY  S    MARK. 


Jean  Grolier 

proportion  of  the  Attic  letters,  otherwise  known  as  Antique 
letters,  vulgarly  Roman  letters  proportioned  after  the  human 
body,"  he  refers  to  some  antique  letters  he  had  lately  made 
for  the  house  of  Jean  Grolier,  "Lover  of  good  letters  and 
of  all  learned  men,  and  who  is  also  so  much  esteemed  and 
loved  by  every  one." 

12  Strada  (Jacopo  di),  antiquary,  born  about  1515  at 
Mantua,  and  died  in  1588.  "Half  artist,  half  savant  and 
above  all  connoseur,  he  passed  his  life  in  traffacking  in  an- 
tiques, amassing  a  fortune  in  the  pursuit:  He  was  a  favor- 
ite and  prote'ge'  of  the  Emperors  Ferdinand  I,  Maximilian 
II,  and  Rudolph  II,  of  Austria." 

Aldus  Pius  Manutius.  Contemporary  medal  struck  in 
Venice  about  1500.  Reverse,  an  anchor  and  dolphin.  The 
Aldine  device  of  the  dolphin  and  anchor,  "  so  well  known 


in  the  annals  of  typography,  was  borrowed  from  the  reverse 
of  a  denarius  of  the  Roman  Emperor  Titus,  as  Aldus  himself 
tells  us." 

"  Mr.  Panizzi  has  shown  that  the  types  of  Alclus  were 
cut  by  Francesca  da  Bologna,  the  celebrated  painter,  better 
known  as  'II  Francia.'  It  is  not  improbable  that  this  medal 
is  also  from  his  hands."  W.  H.  Overall,  Librarian,  in  Cata- 
logue of  London  New  Library  Exhibition,  1872. 

66 


DEDICATION  OF  GAFORI. 
Engraved  by  William  le  Signerre  of  Rouen. 


DEDICATIONS   TO   GROLIER. 

"  AD  PRECLARUM  D  JOANNEM  GROLIERIUM 

NOSTRORIUM  M^CENATEM." 

Franchino  Gafori,  or  Gaforino,  born  at  Lodi  in  145 1 .  The 
son  of  a  soldier,  and  destined  for  the  church,  he  joined  to  the 
study  of  theology  that  of  chanting,  and  acquired  a  knowledge 
of  musical  composition  under  the  tuition  of  a  German  monk 
named  Godeqach.  In  1484  he  was  made  psalmist  of  the  choir 
of  the  Cathedral  of  Milan.  Later  he  founded  in  the  same 
city  a  school  of  music  which  became  celebrated  throughout 
Italy.  He  dedicated  to  Grolier  two  of  his  most  important 
musical  works,  Traite  sur  1'harmonie  des  instruments  de 
musique,  and  Apologia  musici,  exalting  in  the  highest  terms 
the  spirit  and  generosity  of  his  Maecenas,  as  he  styles  him. 

Sambucus  placed  a  dedication  to  Grolier  at  the  head  of 
his  reproductions  of  the  forty-four  Roman  medals. 

67 


Jean  Grolier 

Other  dedications  are  as  follows: 

Aldi  Manutii  Romani  Grammaticae  Institutiones  Graecae. 
Venetiis,  1  5  1  5,  in  410.  Preface  addressed  to  Grolier  by  the 
editor,  Marco  Musurus. 

L.  Ccelii  Rhodigini  Lectionum  Antiquarum  Libri  sexde- 
cim.  Venetiis,  Aldus,  1516,  in  folio. 

Erasmi  Epistolae,  Lib.  Ill,  Ep.  17,  anno  1518,  in  folio. 

Terentius,  Aldus,  1517,  in  8vo. 
Idem,  "       1521,  "     " 

Idem,  "       1524,  "    « 

Budae  (Guillaume),  de  Asse,  etc.     Aldus,  1522,  in  410. 

v      A  Suetonius,  printed  at  Lyons  in  1508,  and  a  book  of 

Estienne  Niger  upon  Greek  Literature,  Milan,   1517,  the 

dedication  copy  of  which,  on  fine  paper  and  bound  in  com- 

partments, is  in  the  Grenville  Collection,  British  Museum. 

L'Andria  et  L'Eunucho  di  Terentio,  Aldus,  in  Vinegia, 
1544,  8vo,  has  two  dedications,  the  first  to  Georges  d'Ar- 
magnac,  Vicomte  de  Rhodes  ;  the  second  to 

AL  CLARISO  E  MOLTI  MAGNIFICO 
S.   Gio  GROLIER. 


-        * 


.i'-  ^ 

- 


68 


Z: 


vx< 


G 


:-  •  G 


'•• 

(  : 


G 


G 


THE      .LUMINATOR. 


G 


G         * 


* 


G          * 


G 


G 


G 


G 


*          # 

G 


G 


G 


• 


G         #          # 


G 


G         # 


*  G 

G         *          # 

#  #> 

*fc          r^1          -tx 

#  ^ 

TT  YP  Vjr 

G         * 

#          *          # 

*  G 


G          « 

*  $ 

*  G 
G         * 

#  * 

*  G 

#  ^ 

^          ^ 

(T  * 

Afc  Afc 

*  G 


G         #'*••*•.       G        *  ^       »'"'•* 
^^G***          G 


G 


